Howard should apologise for misleading advert

Liberal Democrats have expressed disgust at a Conservative newspaper advert that appeared in this week's "Folkestone Herald", in which asylum seekers are falsely blamed for soaring Council Tax bills in Kent.

The advert claims that Kent County Council has spent £259m on asylum seekers which could have been spent on services for local people. In fact, this expenditure has been fully refunded to KCC, with the exception of £20m which is the subject of negotiation. Of that £20m, £14m has already been paid to KCC, subject to Government agreeing KCC's figures.

KCC has set its annual budgets in every year since 1997 assuming that Government will refund all asylum seekers spending. It is therefore completely misleading to say this money could have been spent on local services.

Peter Carroll, who is standing against Michael Howard in Folkestone and Hythe, said "This advert is shamefully and deliberately misleading.

The Conservatives are trying to shift blame for their own mismanagement."

"It is simply a lie to say that asylum costs are responsible for the Council Tax rises under eight years of Conservative rule. This is the kind of campaigning we would expect from the BNP, not a mainstream political party. I challenge Michael Howard to disown this shabby advert and apologise to Kent people who are being misled."

Notes to editors:

This is the second time in a week that the Conservatives have been caught out misleading local voters. At the weekend, Michael Howard was forced to apologise for incorrect claims on numbers of people dying from MRSA in our area. A Conservative leaflet claimed that deaths were many times higher than the real figure.

Only in one year, 2000/01, did KCC add to the Council Tax bill a sum of £3 to the average household, wrongly assuming that Government would not fund asylum seekers' costs in that year. In fact the money was refunded shortly after the budget was set and before the County Council elections which were held that year.

Ends.