Labour must stop treating us as fools

I recently received a glossy leaflet from my M.P. Frank Dobson.  I was surprised by this, as it is the first such leaflet I have received in the ten years I have lived in Camden.  Clearly, Mr. Dobson has been rattled into activity by the recent Euro elect

I recently received a glossy leaflet from my M.P. Frank Dobson. I was surprised by this, as it is the first such leaflet I have received in the ten years I have lived in Camden. Clearly, Mr. Dobson has been rattled into activity by the recent Euro election results. I was also surprised to see - so close to the general election - that this expensively printed leaflet was paid for by the taxpayer.

In the leaflet, Mr. Dobson expresses sympathy for the poor housing conditions in which many Camden council tenants live. He is right about that. What he fails to mention, though, is that these poor conditions are the direct result of the 35 years of Labour neglect when they ran the borough. Contrast this with Conservative boroughs like Westminster or Wandsworth where almost all tenants live in decent homes.

Mr. Dobson further expresses his opposition to the council's current policy of selling a small number of empty properties to pay for decent kitchens and bathrooms where Camden tenants actually live - action that is only necessary because for years his Labour Government has consistently refused to give Camden over �240m in "Decent Homes" funding. Clearly, he cares more about political dogma than about delivering practical solutions to tenants' real problems, while Conservative councillors are taking tough decisions to improve tenants' homes here and now.

Responsible politics is about facing up to the facts and making difficult choices. People deserve to be told the truth, and it is about time Dobson, Brown and the rest of the Labour Party stopped taking us all for fools.

Yours faithfully,

Richard Hopkin

Saffron Hill, EC1

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