Haringey : Labour’s 'obsessive vilification of Lib Dems should stop’

4:41pm Thursday 20th July 2006

Haringey Labour this week released its blueprint for winning back seats in the Lib Dem-dominated west of the borough.

Behind the move to grab back seats from the Liberal Democrats is the film and stage director David Thacker, chairman of Muswell Hill Labour.

Mr Thacker, who unsuccessfully fought for a seat in Muswell Hill in May's local elections, said: "Labour in Haringey can renew itself in office, and it will renew itself in office."

The discussion document', around which Mr Thacker and the Hornsey and Wood Green branch of the Labour Party are pinning their hopes, is 14 pages long and includes the party's principles, policies and strategies for winning back seats in the west of Haringey. Page three of the document, under the heading Positive Politics, states that Labour should stop its obsessive vilification of the Liberal Democrats in campaign literature, letters to the newspapers, policy statements and public pronouncements.

We should concentrate instead on promoting a positive message of a democratic socialist vision for a fairer society'.

Lib Dem councillor David Winskill said: "I'm thrilled that Labour are now starting to take seriously talking to local people about issues that concern them. This is something the Lib Dems have been doing for more than a decade.

"The Labour-run council has been failing Haringey for almost three generations."