More Labour Spin

I bumped into a Labour deliverer in Millbrook Road East on Monday and he kindly let me have one of his Labour election leaflets.

Labour have a track record of negative campaigning and spin in Freemantle so I was curious to find out what the issues they would be going on in the campaign.

True to form is was more fabricated partisan spin.

The two key lines of attack seem to be St Marys sports Centre and Free Bus travel across Hampshire. No surprises there.

Both are subjects that I have addressed in previous posts. Also there are no real differences in policy objectives between the Conservatives and Labour on the two issues.

Both of us want to provide sporting facilities In St Marys and both of us would ideally like free bus travel for pensioners traveling out of Southampton into the rest of Hampshire. The difference between us is that they are making wild promises about what they can deliver and we are being honest about what is achievable. St Marys sports centre is falling down and we have made some proposals for building a new centre. When I raised the subject at the last Council meeting it was acknowledged by the Council Administration that no additional capital funding had been put into the budget as a result of the Labour budget deal.

On free bus passes, the Council are introducing this in Southampton. We don't know what the cost is going to be or whether Government funding will be prove to be sufficient. We will have a of logistical issues to deal with. Integrating the use of the Council Smart Card with all of the bus companies and agreeing recharges will be a challenge. If we can link up with Hampshire in the future that will be great but at the moment no one is saying how that would be funded, least of all Labour.

I am pleased to say, where the Conservatives have knocked Labour, it's over areas that we have profound disagreement. (e.g. their cuts to social services provision).