THERE are lies, damned lies and there is political propaganda, and between them the Green Party and the local Tories have broken all records for totally misleading people.

Let's start with the Greens.

Their latest leaflet proclaims 'Doorstep poll shows Green Party Residents Against Xanadu out In front in no vote' - where? Away from the streets that are immediately adjacent to the project the vast majority of people want Xanadu and even residents in those streets have 'Yes to Xanadu' posters in their window.

And a newspaper poll did me a favour - 315 people voted against and that was for the whole of Leigh. Who are they trying to kid? There is one interesting point raised in this leaflet - Chris Maile promises to support the majority view if elected. Does that mean he will support Xanadu because the majority do want it?

Then there are our old friends the Tories.

Their leaflets and press releases are incredible. Apparently Wigan Council has a debt of £300 million that 'eclipses those of some third world countries'. Where does he get this nonsense from? I challenge him to reveal his sources and prove this claim, that's if we hear from again before the next election.

They also state that the site for the Xanadu project is Green land, sorry David, you are wrong again - this site has never been Green land - but then you are not exactly being liberal with the truth on any of these issues are you?

Don't you remember who caused the rise in local taxes, closed down local A&E units and forced local councils to sell land to keep essential services going - you, your party and your government. I doubt if the people of Hope Carr will have the same loss of memory that you obviously suffer.

So, there we have it. Nonsense and false claims from the Tories and a Green candidate from Wigan who has yet to tell the electorate what he will do for them apart from organising picnics and taking away opportunities for Leigh people.

If people vote for these candidates they will only have themselves to blame for making Hope Carr the laughing stock of the area - I believe they are more intelligent than that and will not be led up the garden path by the Greens or anyone else.

Mark Hale

Labour candidate

Hope Carr ward

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.