Readers' letters - December 12

I see that the Three Amigos, Couns Davies, Hunt and McLoughlin, have misunderstood what they see as the juxtaposition of their letter lambasting residents for the way they vote next to a piece about residents not being listened to by their council.

If anything, their latest high-handed letter highlights why residents are exasperated with their councillors.

They have already shown why the upcoming consultation on the council’s budget is a sham – in their eyes, the consultation will have right and wrong answers, and they will give a failing grade to any resident who doesn’t embrace the apparent wisdom of their betters in the council chamber!

It’s interesting, though, that the hard line they take with the people they represent isn’t reflected in the way they respond to the Tory Government at Westminster. While Labour councillors, such as Coun Hunt, were re-elected earlier this year on the slogan “Standing Up, Not Standing By”, Wigan Central Labour’s motto is “We must do the bidding of the elected UK Government”.

That’s not quite as catchy, and it overlooks the fact the councillors themselves are elected by the people of Wigan Central to represent their views, not act as Westminster’s men in Wigan.

So before they make another demand of Wiganers to change the way they vote, they would be better advised to take their own advice, and 
be careful what they wish 
for.

If they don’t feel comfortable speaking up for the people of their ward against the excesses of this Tory Government, they can easily be replaced by people who 
do.

Will Patterson

Chairman

Wigan and Leigh Green Party

politics

Keep police station open

Leigh Police Station will be closing and Andy Burnham has completely missed the point. As a resident of Leigh, I agree it is essential to have a counter service in our town for residents to make enquiries and report crimes.

But it is far more than that. Police across the borough are better because of Leigh’s police station.

Here there are facilities behind the counter which ensure the police and community support officers are as effective as possible in keeping our streets safe. It is also important to have a reassuring presence of police in the town. The only people glad to see our police station go will be the local criminals and trouble makers intent on making our lives a misery. Instead of vacuous calls on GMP to reconsider their decision, Andy Burnham needs to be proactive and talk to his party colleague Tony Lloyd, the interim Mayor of Greater Manchester, who has the responsibility for spending and resources, and bring into question his police and crime plan which has no mention of closing police stations. With his sight set on becoming the first elected Mayor for Greater Manchester, I call on Andy Burnham to commit now to have in his election manifesto a commitment to keep the police station in Leigh.

Richard Short

Chairman,

Wigan Conservative Federation


politics

DC’s Brexit speeches

David Cameron has no morals if he’s to spend his retirement being paid to give speeches about why he presided over Brexit.

David Brooke via email