Conservatives report LibDems to the Standards Board 22/09/03

The Conservatives have reported the Liberal Democrats to the Standards Board, the local government watchdog for standards in public life.

The party registered a complaint against an election campaigning manual, published by the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors, which call son Liberal Democrats to "be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly", and engage in negative campaigning and exaggerate.

The manual was exposed before the 2002 local elections - but is still on sale at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton.

After lodging an official complaint to the Standards Board against the Chief Executive of the ALDC, Shadow Secretary of State for Local Government & the Regions Eric Pickles said:

"Charles Kennedy tries to claim Liberal Democrats are an honest party, but their own election manual promotes dishonesty, deceit and dirty politics. Liberal Democrats have had over a year to withdraw this booklet, yet they are still brazenly endorsing gutter politics.

"This sort of campaigning brings local government into disrepute. I challenge the Liberal Democrats to withdraw this election manual from sale. If not, they are clearly guilty of the lowest standards in public life."