‘Secret plan’ scare story

• ANYONE would think that an election was around the corner (Tories have secret plan to raise rents, January 22). Labour’s “same old Tories”-scaremongering machine has well and truly kick-started into action. They seem to have completely ignored the fact that it was Labour’s Caroline Flint who raised the policy of scaling back rights for new tenants, currently a live issue on the new Packington estate.
Under Gordon Brown Labour will have left more than 13,000 residents languishing on Islington’s housing waiting list. Then there are tenants who have to live with poor-quality repairs and leaseholders who have to pick up an expensive tab.
Labour representatives in Islington seem incapable of listening to tenants’ and leaseholders’ concerns. The real housing issues are the high executive salaries of an unaccountable Homes for Islington, the poor value for money from major works programmes and a complete lack of support for a family housing strategy in a bid to reduce overcrowding.
Instead of Labour tackling these problems, why not just make up a “secret plan” story about the Conservatives? Far simpler, isn’t it?
RICHARD BUNTING
Deputy chairman, Islington Conservatives