Letter printed

I don't often venture onto the "Hear All Sides" page of the Northern Echo, but Gill Cartwright's letter last week claiming that the Lib Dems' perceived "silence" about BSF "speaks volumes" provoked me to put pen to paper.

My letter has been published today, and here it is in its original form, which is slightly different to the printed version, once the sub-editor got his hands on it:

Sir,

I can assure Councillor Gill Cartwright that, unlike the Conservative Party, who are committed to slashing investment in new school buildings, the Liberal Democrat policy is for an extra £2.5 billion to be invested in our schools.

We will do this by cutting wasteful and unnecessary government programmes such as the proposed replacement of the Trident nuclear weapon system, the controversial ID cards scheme, the Eurofighter project, the Child Trust Fund and hugely-expensive Government IT schemes.

As I said at the recent Full Council meeting, although the Building Schools for the Future programme, like so many Labour schemes, is wasteful and bureaucratic, we fully supported the Council’s bid for £57m of BSF money to rebuild Hurworth, Longfield and Branksome. We won that money and we want that money for Darlington!

A Conservative Government would mean that pupils at those three schools – one of which is in Cllr Cartwright’s ward - will continue to be educated in outdated buildings that are no longer fit for purpose.

The Conservatives are, understandably, keeping quiet about the true nature of many of their policies. When they do let slip the truth, however, we see them in their true colours: tax cuts for their rich friends, chronic under-investment in our children’s futures and no commitment to closing the achievement gap between rich and poor children.

Yours sincerely
Cllr Mike Barker
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Darlington