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07/03/09 : Anneliese: "Tories copied their 'advice pack' from Council of Mortgage Lenders!" :
An 'advice pack' on Repossession - Advice for Home Owners published by the Conservative Party nationally and launched in Reading last week by Tory MP Rob Wilson, Tory candidate Alok Sharma and Tory Councillor Terry Byrne is copied word for word, without any acknowledgement, from the website of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, says Anneliese Dodds, Labour prospective candidate for Reading East, who has written to the CML to ask if they had given permission for their material to be used in this way.
"I was wondering why the Tories have published something claiming to be aimed at Reading people, yet which talked about mortgages in Scotland and Wales and gave no information about help available here in Reading. The answer is not only that it was not written for Reading, it wasn't even written by the Tory Party! The original material was written by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which is a trade body for building societies and banks, not a political body. Quite possibly, the CML doesn't even know its material has been 'nicked' by the Tories for political purposes!
"The fact that it was written by CML may explain why the bits on Tax Credits, Council Tax Benefit, and 'alternative housing' in this leaflet are a bit pathetic: they're not the CML's thing. That the Tories just reprinted the CML's material verbatim shows what they wanted was not to help people but just to help themselves to a photo-opportunity.
"I think Reading people would find the local information on my website far more helpful. I would also recommend Reading Borough Council's website and their leaflet, Beat the Crunch, which tries to provide serious help for serious times."
For further information
1. The Tory leaflet is available on www.tinyurl.com/reading-housingadvice
2. The Council for Mortgage Lenders' information is available from www.cml.org.uk/cml/consumers/guides/worried#1
3. Anneliese's material on help during the credit crunch is available at www.anneliesedodds.org/new_credit_crunch_resources
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