Dear Sir,
The Town Council elections of 2013 overwhelmingly returned Labour councillors.  So I was very disappointed to see that democratic outcome dismissed in last week’s Newton News as ‘the ruling Labour clique dictating affairs’.
We are not a ‘clique’ – we are the legally-elected majority!
The letter went on to complain: ‘the Labour view will always prevail even when it may not be best for our town’.
But who gets to judge what is ‘best for our town’? The four opposition councillors?  A vocal lobby group? Last week’s correspondent?
The democratic answer is that Town Council decisions should be the decisions of the elected majority as determined by a vote. Anybody who finds this ‘exasperating’ simply does not understand democracy.
When the electors returned Labour councillors, they were declaring that they wanted the Council to make its decisions according to Labour values.  We are proud to be Labour, and honoured to be mandated to do so.
John D Clare
Press Officer, Great Aycliffe
Town Council Labour Group