Housing Minister asked to apologise over dishonest claims (Newcastle upon Tyne Liberal Democrats)

Newcastle upon Tyne Liberal Democrats <info@newcastle-libdems.org.uk>

Housing Minister asked to apologise over dishonest claims

September 25, 2009 11:05 PM
Originally published by Greg Stone

Lib Dem parliamentary spokesman for Newcastle East Greg Stone has written to Housing Minister John Healey demanding a formal apology after Mr Healey made false statements regarding Lib Dem-run Newcastle City Council's policy on building new homes.

Mr Healey questioned whether the Lib Dems were committed to building new homes, claiming that the council had not bid to a Government programme to fund construction of new council houses. In fact the council had begun a construction programme pre-dating the Government scheme, and is additionally bidding to the second round of the funding programme.

Greg Stone said "I have written to Mr Healey demanding an apology for this wildly inaccurate claim. The Lib Dem council approved a new council house building programme before the Labour government introduced this scheme. There was no point in us bidding to it as we had already begun this important work, leading the way after years of failure by Labour to build new homes. Mr Healey's comments are mendacious and he owes Newcastle an apology."