Wednesday, January 13, 2010

"Vile" claims by Labour chief whip on Lib Dems

Labour Chief Whip, Nick Brown MP, has now stooped to the lowest of the low with outrageous and "vile" allegations of electoral fraud and cheating against Lib Dem run Newcastle City Council.

The row involves the decision of Newcastle Council, supported incidentally by a majority of Labour councillors on the authority's constitutional committee, to hold general election counts on the day after polling day. Brown claims, "Leaving blank ballot papers and lists of those who haven't voted and the ballot boxes all together in the same place overnight is not a reassuring prospect. The scope for fraud is obvious."

He then went on to claim, "I wouldn't trust Newcastle Liberal Democrats to be left alone with the blank ballot papers and ballot boxes overnight."

The unfounded and untrue allegations that Newcastle Liberal Democrats are corruptly abusing the electoral process really are "vile". That was the description applied in response by Newcastle City Lib Dems.

It should be remembered that the person making these despicable, vile and untrue claims is the Government's chief whip. This is the level to which those in the heart of Labour have now sunk. And I suspect it is a foretaste of the Labour campaign in the general election battle to come.

Brown however may have shot himself in both feet whilst placing them both in his mouth. Our regional newspaper, The Journal, was distinctly unimpressed by his disgusting claims. According to their leader column, his comments were "outrageous" and, "Such shameful politicking has the power to impair his party's cause."

Now we await the announcement, assuming they make one, of Newcastle Labour's distancing of themselves from Nick Brown. Let's hope we are not kept waiting.

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