Labour slammed for misleading OAPs (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Labour slammed for misleading OAPs

May 6, 2009 3:48 PM

Labour have been accused of scaremongering and exploiting pensioner hardship in their political campaigning.

Islington Liberal Democrats have filed formal complaints with the electoral commission about the conduct of Labour campaigners in Islington. Several local pensioners contacted their councillors to complain about a leaflet from the Labour Party which gave the impression that they had to register with the Labour Party in order to receive specific benefits from Islington council. The Liberal Democrats have called this "an intentional attempt to mislead the public."

An April letter sent out to residents by the Islington Labour Party advertised the £100 Council Tax discount offered to pensioners by the council.

But the letter goes on to say that in order to get these benefits, residents need to send back an attached survey card. The survey card asked residents to register their name, address, and voting intentions with the Labour party.

Liberal Democrat deputy council leader Terry Stacy said:

"Councillors ought to help residents access council services, but this letter appears to have gone way beyond that. It clearly implies that residents have to register with the Labour Party to take advantage of council services - which isn't true at all.

"It's hard to see this as anything other than an intentional attempt to mislead the public. Complaints have been filed with the Electoral Commission, but Labour councillors need to start thinking hard about their publicity and whether they intended to exploit the hardship of vulnerable people for their own political gain."

The council has already credited the account of all pensioners on the Freedom Pass register with their council tax rebate, and has publicised the scheme to everyone in the borough through the council's newsletters.