Date published: 2005/03/13
Labour, like the Lib Dems, is gearing up for the forthcoming General Election (in May). Anne Campbell is the Labour candidate and is the incumbent MP for Cambridge. Two nights in a row Labour leaflets have dropped through the letter box. Needless to say the leaflets are typical party political fodder, of more use in the recycling bin than anything else.
In one of the leaflets there is the claim that "Lib Dems cost you more" on the council tax, with a misleading graph to "prove" the point. The graph is misleading because the y axis (showing the Band D monthly charge) goes from 95 to 155 pounds instead of 0 to 155, hence magnifying the size of the increase (a typical ploy amongst people who are trying to deceive). There could be three reasons why the tax has been increasing faster in the last few years (when the Lib Dems have run Cambridge) than it did in the few years before that (when Labour did): (1) the Lib Dems waste more money; (2) the Lib Dems are providing more services; or (3) central government has not been fair in its allocation to Cambridge (most of the money for local services comes from the central government rather than via the council tax, and a small shortfall in the former thus requires a large increase in the latter). Needless to say nobody is going to give an unbiased opinion of which combination of these three things is responsible for the increased tax, so the voter is left in the dark.
In the same leaflet there is a statement in another article that students at Manor Community College "were using new whiteboards purchased with money made available by the Government". Well if that's the best that Labour can do for education in Arbury then it's pretty pathetic.
One of the other leaflets suggested "five things you can do without leaving home", of which one was:
Keep an eye on our opponents. Let us know if the opposition deliver a leaflet or canvass you. Don't throw their leaflets away, send them to us, we want to see them.
This looks like it is going to get nasty.
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