FibDems

More Lib Dem lies.

Lib Dems caught out again. Note that there was a very close election last time - between Labour and Marek.

Candidate's two-horse Assembly election race claim sparks fury

By Iain St John
A WREXHAM Welsh Assembly candidate has been accused of spreading misleading information as the battle for the keenly contested seat hots up. The criticism was aimed at Liberal Democrat candidate Bruce Roberts by sitting AM John Marek and Conservative hopeful Felicity Elphick.

Their anger was sparked by leaflets distributed by Liberal Democrat workers which claim the Wrexham seat is a two-horse race between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Using a graph showing the number of councillors in Wrexham, the leaflets claim the Tories and Plaid Cymru can't win in the town. No mention is made of Independent councillors. The leaflets also make no mention of the man who has held the seat for years and is confident of retaining power – Independent politician John Marek.

In an unusual step Dr Marek and Mrs Elphick hosted a joint Press conference yesterday to voice their displeasure at the contents of the leaflets. Dr Marek said it was misleading to use the number of local councillors on Wrexham Council on Assembly election leaflets.

He said: "They don't mention who actually is the sitting member for the National Assembly. It's not Labour, it's not the Liberal Democrats, it's me. I appeal to the Liberal Democrats to give out accurate information. If misleading information is given out, the whole political process is demeaned. I would call for a bit more honesty."

Mrs Elphick said it was "appalling" for the Lib Dems to "whitewash" Dr Marek out of its literature "as if he did not exist", and attacked claims the Tories would not get much support in the poll.

She pointed out that the Liberal Democrats actually gained fewer votes than the Tories at the last Assembly election. She added she hoped to close the gap on Labour in the May 3 election. Dr Marek and Mrs Elphick said they were not launching a personal attack on Mr Roberts, but both wanted to air their concern about what they saw as the misleading nature of the
leaflets.

Neither said they wanted an apology, but Dr Marek added: "I am appealing for their graphs and other information to bear some resemblance to the situation." He said the danger was newcomers to the Wrexham area who were not aware he held the seat would be misled into thinking only Labour or the Liberal Democrats can win the seat.

The leaflets were also criticised by Plaid Cymru candidate Sion Aled Owen. He said: "The Lib Dems are once again producing misleading material. The idea this is a two-horse race is ridiculous. In the last Assembly election the Lib Dems came fourth, with only a few hundred votes more than Plaid.

"We are running a very strong campaign and are much more organised in Wrexham than we have ever been before. We are aiming to win this constituency and I am confident that we will overtake the Lib Dems on May 3"

However, Mr Roberts was unrepentant. He said two of the leaflets had had the controversial graph on them for at least 12 months and nobody had complained until now, while he stood by the other graph, which claimed the Tories cannot win Wrexham.

He said: "I stand by it because it is true that the Tories will not win it. I am amused by the Marek/Conservative alliance – will they be promoting joint strategies as well? The leaflet clearly states that the graph shows the number of councillors, and for John Marek to expect us to mention his name on our leaflets is frankly a bit rich. At the end of the day people in Wrexham care about their schools and hospitals, not the size of our bar charts. They realise we are a political threat in Wrexham and they are worried."