We need convincing Tories have changed
I WOULD like to respond to Hannah Foster's letter Voters want debate not party posturing, Echo, March 6.
In this letter she tried to defend her action over unitary status. I find it strange that all parties on Exeter City Council, including the Conservative Party group leader Yolonda Henson supported unitary status, so why doesn't Ms Foster?
I suspect she did not want to appear to be supporting Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw over this issue, so she then made a disastrous decision to desert the citizens of Exeter in favour of supporting East Devon Tory MP Hugo Squire.
I think she has made a bad misjudgement on this issue and now expects us all to back her on election day.
I think she should have learned from Cllr Henson, who is more experienced.
Regarding party funding, irrespective of what Ms Foster states, it is widely known that the Tory election campaign has been funded by Lord Ashcroft.
She says her views on fox hunting were published in June 2008 or people can look on her website.
However, I wonder why she did not give a simple yes or no to the question.
There are people like myself who do not possess a computer and did not read her account in the Echo, so I'm still in the dark as to whether she backs David Cameron on this issue.
If she does support fox hunting, it makes a nonsense of her concerns regarding animal welfare. Most people in this country are against this medieval sport.
I've received Ms Foster's campaign brochure and it appears she is trying to portray the Conservatives as caring, especially for the less well off.
She claims that Gordon Brown intends spending cuts to services but surely she must know that Shadow Chancellor George Osborne is planning much bigger cuts.
He has a £34bn black hole in his budget and will give no details whatsoever on how he intends to fill it.
Mr Osborne has also stated that he will be looking into pension, tax credits and bus passes for the elderly.
So I'm not sure that Mr Osborne is caring and honest on how he intends to deal with our economy.
People of my generation have long memories and are going to take a lot of convincing that the Conservative Party has really changed.
Brian Sharpe
Ladysmith Road, Exeter
Comments
by Simon Hacker, Glos
Friday, March 12 2010, 9:51AM
“Well said, Brian, though younger people need convincing too and although the Tories will seek to play down their priority to roll animal welfare back to the last century, claiming it's a peripheral issue, their attitude towards animals touches upon the very essence of what it means to be a Conservative. Caring? Empathetic? Models of humanity? Like many, I'm thankful that they have at least been honest (apart from the coy Ms Foster) about their intentions. The attitude of a party towards the world around it, including our wild animals, is a great revealer of a party's true soul. Beneath the Cameron sheen, something rotten persists.”