Fisking the Lib/Dem election literature in Copeland

In many parts of Britain one of the few things that Labour and Conservative councillors agree on is that the Lib/Dems in their areas are the party most prone to dirty tactics.

Up to now that has not generally been the case in West Cumbria, though it certainly is in South Lakes.

I have been campaigning all over the Copeland constituency for nearly two months now without seeing a single Lib/Dem out canvassing or delivering, with a few posts on social media the only sign they are doing anything much, but we have had freepost leaflets from them delivered by the Royal Mail, a facility offered to all candidates in parliamentary elections.

The Lib/Dems would have a long way to go to equal the amount of nonsense which Labour have put out during the Copeland by-election, particularly about the NHS, but the degree of mendacity is certainly higher than I would normally expect from Copeland Lib/Dems and I suspect the malign hand of Westmorland and Lonsdale Lib/Dems may have had something to do with this. (The Lib/Dem campaign is based in Kendal.)

So let's do a little light fisking of some of the claims about their candidate in the election communication they sent through the post today.

THEY SAY
"Rebecca lives locally"

RESPONSE:
She gives her address as being in Cockermouth, outside the constituency and about twenty minutes' drive from the main towns in Copeland constituency.


THEY SAY
"Rebecca is a local councillor"

RESPONSE
She is a Town councillor for Christchurch ward, Cockermouth, outside the Copeland constituency. This is a position to which she was elected in less than six months ago, and is not exactly "local" to Copeland.

THEY SAY
"Rebecca is leading the campaign to make the government and health bosses see sense."

RESPONSE
The claim to be involved may well be true but the claim to be "leading the campaign" is pure hyperbole. A lot of people, in all parties and none, are involved in various campaigns to protect local hospital and health services. I don't personally believe that any one individual can really claim to be leading the campaign but I can think of several people with stronger claims than the Lib/Dem candidate.


And here is something the Lib/Dems says about their candidate which is presumably true:

"SHE WILL FIGHT FOR A SINGLE SECONDARY SCHOOL IN WHITEHAVEN"

What a horrendous idea!

Either

a) She supports but has misunderstood the previous proposal for a new campus to fit Mayfield, St Benedict's, and what was then known as Whitehaven School onto one site as three distinct schools, or

b) She wants to force the merger of St Benedicts and Whitehaven Academy, or

c) She wants to close one of those two schools!

So she either completely misunderstands the current situation in Whitehaven,  or is supporting a policy which could cost teachers their jobs and further disrupt the education of Whitehaven pupils.

Comments

Anonymous said…
You are all as bad as each other, and all saying the same thing.
Jim said…
I dont understand how they can get away with that, Living locally and working as a local councillor, in a Copeland by election means you live and work in Copeland. I mean I know I dont anymore, though a 2 minute belt down the distington bypass gets me there, I still cant write "as a constituent of Copeland", same rules.
Chris Whiteside said…
Anonymous - I can only assume you have not read any of the parties' election literature because I cannot believe that a sane person who had read the leaflets the different parties are putting out could hold that opinion.

Jim - they are not quite lying but it is very misleading.
Anonymous said…
Hospital blah, Sellafield blah, Schools blah.
Chris Whiteside said…
And if you think the parties are saying the same things on those issues you obviously have not read them.

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