Not just for our titilation

4:26pm Wednesday 4th May 2005

Although we are in the midst of a general election, I am duty bound as the leader of Croydon Council to point out the inaccuracies and therefore possible confusion that could be caused by the Conservative Party with regards to the asylum issue, as portrayed in their local advertising.

There are three points of fact that I believe to ensure an honest and fair debate people should be informed of.

The first is that the vast majority of any money spent in Croydon is spent on children, these are the vulnerable children of asylum seekers fleeing persecution or in some awful cases children who have been put alone on planes by distraught parents in countries that have been in conflict, such as the former Yugoslavia.

Secondly, we have a duty under the 1989 Children's Act, brought in rightly by a Conservative Government to protect these children, and finally the vast majority of all costs are met by national not local funding.

Tony Newman
Leader of Croydon Council