Local Conservatives "appalled" at Lib Dem's attack on Tottenham residents 14/09/06

A leading Liberal Democrat activist in Tottenham has sparked outrage by declaring, “no intelligent person wants to live in Tottenham unless they are tired of life!” He added that local residents who praised the diversity of South Tottenham – where there are 105 different languages – in an Evening Standard survey, where “…either (one) lying or (two) high on drugs when they spoke to the researchers of the survey”.

Neville Collins made the comments on his blog (on-line diary). Mr Collins stood in the recent council elections in Tottenham Hale as a Lib Dem candidate and was humiliated in a by-election when he trailed in 3rd place behind both the Conservatives and Labour, despite support from Lynne Featherstone, MP. 

Justin Hinchcliffe, Chairman of Tottenham Conservatives and a life-long Tottenham resident, said he was not “tired of life” and was “appalled” by the remarks.

He said: “I am the first to admit that Tottenham has been neglected by Labour-run Haringey, but these remarks are highly offensive to literally thousands of local residents and I’m appalled by them. I call on the Lib Dems to disown these dreadful remarks and apologise to the people of Tottenham”.

He went on, “The Liberal Democrats are only interested in running Tottenham people down. Local Conservatives have a positive message for local residents – one of change, optimism and hope.”

ENDs.

Notes to Editors:

Link - http://tottenhamhaletales.blogspot.com/