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In the local elections on Thursday 1st May you will be able to select Councillors to govern your local Borough Council. Hertsmere Council currently spends over £70 million of tax payers money every year. This is your money and you could take this opportunity to say how this money should be spent. Your local Council has been run by the Conservatives since 1999. For every problem you have with local Council services you have it because a Conservative led Council planned it and then voted for it. If there are any problems with services [like bin collections, parking or poor local services] they will always blame anyone else for the failures but never take responsibility for their own wasteful mistakes. Despite 10 years of the most generous Government Grants in history, your local Conservative run Council still wants to blame the Government for their failures to provide adequate services. Isn't this just rank political opportunism? in 1996 (The last full year of a Conservative Government) our local County Council received £500 million to fix potholes in our roads. Last year they recieved over £1 billion. If the Government had stuck to the rate of inflation we'd have only recieved £750 million. The Green Bin Recyling scheme here in Hertsmere was entirely paid for by direct Government Grants. It's the only part of Hertsmere's recycling scheme that works. The Government has just recently provided massive new grants to refurbish Radlett, Potters Bar and Elstree & Borehamwood Rail Stations - not something mentioned by our local Conservative controlled Councils. The Government has tried to give our local Councils every opportunity and financial support possible but our local Councils have failed us, whether for political convenience or just incompetance, no-one knows. There are currently 28 Conservative Borough Councillors, with 7 Lib Dems and 4 Labour. If this Council gains one more Conservative Councillor the Electoral Reform Society will start calling us a "One Party State" - 'a council less able to provide overview and scrutiny than one in which opposition voices are heard.' Do you want to live in a "One Party State"? Last week most of these 28 Conservative Councillors spent a long time arguing amongst themselves that the state of the roads in Hertsmere were acceptable. Afterwards they drove home in their comfy 4x4s, increasingly necessary on our scrappy, pot-holed roads. It's about time for a change. Even the Conservatives agree that "A healthy democracy only works when there is opposition to scrutinise the Council and hold them to account." Make sure that the Conservatives are held to account by voting for you local Labour candidate on 1st May. Labour Party Election Broadcast 29th April 2008And for balance, an election broadcast from David Cameron
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