I bumped in to my Labour opponent on Saturday while out campaigning (us that is, didn’t see any signs of the Labour or Tory campaigns) and she was not happy with me and the story I published on the blog yesterday about what I had been told of Labour’s plans to introduce a mayor to Bassetlaw (see Labour Plans Post-Election Surprise.  She told that there were no such plans and I was wrong to spread a scare story like this.

I stand by my story on Labour’s post election plans as, as I made clear in the article, I have heard it from two separate sources, neither with any connections to the Lib Dems apart from knowing me.   If the Labour Party  don’t have any such plans then they can release a statement to say so making it clear they will not be introducing a mayoral system into Bassetlaw at least until the next District Council elections in 2014.  I wait to hear from them on this but I will not be holding my breathe.

I wasn’t quick enough to respond properly to Mrs May before she walked away with a line about how Labour knows all about untrue scare stories. They are experts at putting out a story that suggests something bad will happen and then, when it doesn’t, claiming that they stopped it. Here are a few that they have put about recently – “cuts” to services at Bassetlaw Hospital that even the Hospital managers didn’t know about;  “cuts” the Fire Service in Bassetlaw that no-one knows about except Labour;  the “Granny Tax” which doesn’t exist;  Labour posters that claim cuts to free Bus Passes, Winter Fuel allowances, free prescriptions and free TV Licences, all complete fabrications.

Update on this story:  I have been phone by the Labour Party’s Agent for the elections, Cllr Griff Wynne  this evening and he has asked me to make clear that a switch to a Mayoral system has not been discussed by the Labour group on the Council and it is not local Labour Party policy.  This I am happy to do as I know from previous discussions with Cllr Wynne that he is as opposed to the mayoral system for Bassetlaw as I am.