LETTER: Politicians should listen and then act

Clearly, Mr Sutcliff did not read the contents of my last letter.

If he had, he would have learned I was advocating entering into long-term partnerships with local suppliers to allow investment to help sustain and create local jobs.

We will have to disagree that local people do not want hear or care about local business and local jobs. As he correctly points out, I am not in a position where I can influence such things, hence my candidature.

He states the letters do not tell him anything the candidates would do if anybody were daft enough to vote for us.

Unfortunately, we would need the contents of this entire paper to set out what is required to rectify the catastrophic mistakes made by his Conservative cronies in power here in Pendle, at county and nationally.

But allow me to tell you what I would not have done.

I would not have closed the second busiest recycling centre in Lancashire, then complain about increased fly tipping.

I would not have closed Barrowford Youth Club, and then scratch my head wondering why there are more young people hanging round the streets.

I would not have cut the funding to pensioners’ lunch clubs, inflicting more financial misery on some of the weakest and poorest in society.

I would not have outsourced all the services Lancashire County Council has to BT One Connect, who are rumoured to have made millions in profit. Profit extracted from your £1,500 council tax. Profit that could have been used to protect some of the services I would not have cut, as I have highlighted above, and to save some of the 11,500 jobs LCC has cut in the last three years, instead of using it to pay 12 of their directors a £1m. bonus. I say rumoured as they are yet to file accounts other than dormant ones, which begs the question why not?

Finally, I know such a concept may sound alien to Mr Sutcliff and his friends, but perhaps because politicians are elected to serve their electorate, the public would prefer their elected representatives to listen and work on the issues affecting them, as opposed to telling them what they are going to do.

MARK PORTER

Labour candidate, LCC, Pendle West