Labour for Luton & Wayfield

Sam Craven, Tristan Osborne and Christine Godwin

On the back of the victory in River Ward, Labour in Luton & Wayfield will be beginning our 'voter challenge'

The challenge will be to meet every voter in the ward before Christmas to listen and hear their concerns about the Council and Conservative cuts.

The funding for our challenge is there, the campaigners are ready, the leaflets are being delivered. A new campaign website is close to completion and a new vLog will be established before Christmas. We will be inviting residents along the campaign to record a video for the vLog highlighting what they most disagree with about the cuts. This is a new and innovative media project. We are in conversations to link with the Medway media to bring a vLog of the campaign over the 5 months until May 2011.

Luton & Wayfield deserve better then the Conservatives who have failed Medway and will not defend our towns against massive cuts being inflicted upon us by the Conservative Party.

Today the Medway Messenger revealed the extent of the Conservative cuts of £50m.

That is money to care for elderly residents, money to build play-parks, money to clean our streets and fight anti-social behaviour, money which funds our sports-centres and cares for the ill and infirm. Money which pays for bus fares and money that re-surfaces roads and cleans our paths. Money that could be used to regenerate Medway and help the poorest in our community.

The Tories call this waste, we call it basic services that help people.

We will also stand up for the middle class. We believe that the cynical increase in train fares which will add £1200 to the average commuter bill is a disgrace. We believe that the VAT rise to 20% will hurt hard-pressed families. We believe the rise in tuition fees will hurt our young people who are only seeking to better themselves.

We will fight this Conservative assault on hard working people. Yesterday the people of River ward rejected the Conservative cuts and we believe those in Luton & Wayfield will as well.

Luton & Wayfield needs Councillors who can stand up to the cuts and fight to stop them. We accept that with the current deficit we do need a sensible approach to managing the local finances but we oppose the over-aggressive cuts to services that are being foisted upon us by George Osborne.

His deficit reduction strategy is based on the electoral cycle and not the fiscal cycle. Based on the election in 2015 and not on the best interests of the people of Britain.

River Ward residents yesterday voted to kick out the Conservatives because of what they did to their community in Brompton and Chatham.

We believe and will stand up for a Luton & Wayfield residents against aggressive cuts and those who oppose the VAT increase, tuition fees and rises in train fares.

If we can meet enough of you and listen to your concerns, we hope you will agree with those who voted on Thursday. That Labour is once again standing up and fighting for you.