Tory "Spin" alive and well in Ashtead

9.50.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 17th May 2009

Tory campaign policy seems to rely on gross misrepresentation of the facts

It seems that gross misrepresentation of the facts is party policy for the Conservatives all over Surrey, since the same strategy is being adopted in their Ashtead newsletters.

In Epsom & Ewell an apology has been demanded from the Conservative agent for literature which claims that the Lib Dems were responsible for a council tax increase of 3.9%. (In fact, the Lib Dems proposed an increase of 2.9% and it was the ruling Residents' Party which voted for and won a 3.9% increase). The Conservative agent was also asked to confirm that they would not repeat this inaccurate reference to the Lib Dems.

Conservative MP Chris Grayling was also asked by the Lib Dems to commit his local party and agent to running a clean election campaign and to confirm that his party will stick to the truth and not misrepresent the Liberal Democrat position on local issues. Their literature appears to major on distorting the facts in order to slur other parties and candidates, rather than balance content with the real news associated with any successes they might have to report back to residents.

In Ashtead, it seems the Tories are attempting to blame an Ashtead Independent councillor for the planning decision involving land on which the old Parsons Mead School lies. The reality is that a majority of Conservatives voted in favour of the scheme. The Tory newsletters fail to mention the most controversial site in Ashtead - the proposals for a Tesco supermarket - apparently because one of the local Conservative councillors has a conflict of interest!