Labour's race card turns out to be another smear

10.06.27pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 21st Apr 2006

A couple of months ago Mayor Livingstone and leading Labour councillors in Lambeth tried to claim the Lib Dems were not doing enough to ensure black and ethnic minority voters were registered to vote, although the Lib Dems have been making considerable efforts to ensure they are. However, after the Mayor spent £60,000 on visiting 10,880 homes in areas thought to have low registration rates, his efforts resulted in just 361 extra names being added to Lambeth's electoral register. Of these new names, two-thirds are thought to be people who have only just moved to the borough.

Lambeth's own efforts to ensure more voter registration, meanwhile, have been far more effective than the Mayor's. In the most recent continuation of Lambeth's own programme, 689 homes were visited twice, from which 407 new names were entered on the register.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Peter Truesdale said: "This is yet another example of Labour's negative campaign of lies and spin. The truth is the Lib Dems have been doing everything we can to get everyone registered to vote. Our own local campaign has clearly been far better at getting people registered and more cost-effective than the Mayor's political stunt. Labour should stop patronising local people and put forward some positive plans for Lambeth."

See also our February 23 story: http://www.lambethlibdems.org.uk/news/2.html .