Contained in the latest propaganda offering from the Lib Dems to drop through our letterboxes is a little gem entitled Campaigning against Labour's incinerator plans with the sub title Don't trust Labour on the Incinerator!
It contains 3 so called 'facts'
'Fact' 1 Before last year's Local Elections Labour campaigned AGAINST an incinerator on Cross Green
'Fact' 2 Now the new Labour Council are pushing forward with plans FOR an incinerator at Cross Green
'Fact' 3 Only the Lib Dems will fight the Cross Green Incinerator - Labour just say one thing but do another
The bare faced hypocrisy of the last 'fact' quite frankly leaves us speechless considering most of the decisions taken by their party leadership since joining the coalition!
However here are some other facts on the incinerator
Fact 1 This programme was initiated in 2005 by the Lib Dems/Conservative coalition running Leeds. All FOUR of the sites considered were in Richmond Hill, much to the anger of local residents made very plain at numerous Richmond Hill Forum meetings and Cllr Brett was on the committee overseeing this process.
Fact 2 NO2Incinerator discovered, through a Freedom of Information request, that the Lib Dems/Conservative coalition, in which Cllr Brett occupied the position of either Deputy Council Leader or Council Leader, had spent at least a truly staggering £954,463,000 from 2005 up to April 2010 in preparation for the incinerator, though we suspect that the costs might actually be much higher.
Fact 3 The Labour councillors who stated their opposition to the building of yet another incinerator in our area still, as far as we are aware, hold that opinion. The council has, far from pushing forward with an incinerator at Cross Green, not yet come to a final decision on the matter.
This is a very important matter for the residents of this area and the city as a whole, with widespread and possibly serious consequences for the those living here and we do not appreciate it being used as a political football by parties in the upcoming election, but if you are going to put out these 'facts' at least make sure that they are true and complete.
Labour did not start this process - the Lib Dems/Cons did, Labour did not keep it going incurring costs of nearly £1million - the Lib Dems/Cons did, and Labour are not now trying to pretend that the whole thing never ever had anything to do with them - the Lib Dems are.
We, the electorate, expect and certainly deserve to be treated better by those who seek to represent us. Behaviour like this is why politicians are held in such low esteem by the rest of us.
The lib dems are massive hypocrites on this but why are you so soft on Labour? They spent the last five years saying they wouldn't build an incinerator in Cross Green but as soon as they get in power they follow exactly the same pro-incineration agenda for the area as the Lib Dems and Tories. They're just as deserving of the hypocrisy tag as the Lib Dems, possibly even more so in fact as they're now in the position to actually do something about the issue!
ReplyDeleteYes maybe they are but they are not publishing leaflets and putting them through peoples doors. They want the incinerator to be built at Skelton Grange as then the chances of two EFW's being built in tandem will be unlikely to happen and then Biffa (who happen to have very close links with the liberals will get their plans through.)
ReplyDeleteNo2 Incinerator is anti incineration regardless of political persuasion. If the labour lot printed something as inflamatory as this we would be just as vociferously against their propaganda.
We do not agree that we are giving the Labour Party an easy ride on this matter, we were responding to another Lib Dem leaflet, the third they had put out, containing the same deliberately misleading information and this after we had spoken to the authors of these leaflets pointing out the deliberate misinformation and asking them not to do it again as it did nothing to inform the serious debate.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Labour Party have not yet agreed to cancel this project as we want them to do but this project has been underway for 5 years and has cost at a conservative estimate almost £1millon so far so even we did not suppose that it would be as simple as just pulling the plug on this, leaving the city without a credible alternative to dealing with its waste.
What we are particularly angry about is the party politicking surrounding this whole issue, the Lib Dems in this instance trying to re-write history and score cheap points off the Labour Party, while the really serious issues of incineration and future waste management for the city, which are vital, not only to residents of East Leeds but to the city as a whole, are used and abused and not properly addressed, however they are not the only party guilty of this simply the most brazen and persistent in our area.
This matter is too important to be downgraded in this way. The decisions that are made now will affect the people of East Leeds and the city for the 25-30years and we have no problem in telling the Labour administration of the city that we want this project scrapped because it is too expensive, outdated technologically and will blight our area.
And if the liberals are campaigning against an Incinerator at Cross Green it also means their integrity on the plans panel east is severely compromised - something i for one intend to do something about.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to see this sort of thing happening because I happen to think that Cllr Brett is a very good Ward Councillor. I know he has worked closely with members of COVEN to tackle the overcrowding, HMO's and planning issues here as well as lending support to the campaign to save the Old York Road Library.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me to be a real shame that politics get dragged into the more important things in life
Is it possible to agree with all of the above? I for once I can see the points made.
ReplyDeleteAs a resident of East End Park, I can appreciate the good work our Ward Councillors do. What I would like more of, is to see them more committed to what we, their constituents actually want, instead of their own party line.
This is local politics, not party politics, and I strongly believe that if any of them fail to see that,they are bound to be disappointed following the next local elections.
As a member of the No2incinerator campaign, I feel that there is a very fine line between trying to be party-politically neutral and trying to criticise politicians and their actions.
If we don't always get that ballance right, it is not intentional. I, personally, believe that in our No2incinerator campaign we have very few, if any, political allies.
If any of our councillors or MP are willing to prove me wrong, I am willing to listen and keep an open mind.
But I am not ready to accept any pre-election leaflets that contradict among others, the facts that the NO2incinerator campaign has obtained through FOI request.
In this life, none of us has the authority to maintain to be always right. It would be refreshing to see our local politicians admiting to occasionally being wrong,and redeam themselves, instead of trying to supplement the FACTS with more fabrications.