Labour lost votes by refusing to listen on school closure threat

Assuming that Coun Wilson refers to the May 2007 election and the seat Labour lost to the Lib Dems in Hillsborough Ward, the seat was actually won by the Lib Dems because Labour failed to listen to local opinion and consistently ignored the area’s electorate. Even a Conservative might had been elected if they had supported keeping Wisewood open.

Alf Meade, the Labour councillor who lost his seat at this election, invited himself round to many peoples homes for cups of tea to discuss the issue - my own on four separate occasions - and said that he would do all he could to keep Wisewood open. He admitted that he could not vote against the merger because it would mean going against his political party.

The Lib Dems listened to people’s opinions and said they would do all in their power to keep Wisewood open, recognising that both Myers Grove and Wisewood were in need of investment and that to favour one community over the other was incorrect. This galvanised support from many people such as myself who had never previously voted Lib Dem.

The only time Labour showed any interest in its Hillsborough constituents was in the build up to the local election in May when, for several weekends in April and on the day of the election itself, the area was invaded by an army of their councillors from across the city going door to door begging for people to vote for them. No doubt this action will be repeated in April/May 2008 and 2010 when the two remaining Labour councillors for Hillsborough are up for election.

Coun Wilson states that she is keen for Labour to be judged on its achievements - on this issue these include: deceiving and patronising the public, erosion of public faith in the political process, division of communities and wasting money.

Robert Palmer, Studfield Road, Wisewood