Sir, – In the Farnham Herald last week, Liberal Democrat Waverley councillors were quick to lament the rejection by tenants of their proposal to transfer ownership of local authority housing to a housing association. Instead of complaining, they should look in the mirror and admit that they have only themselves to blame. The financial mess in which they now find themselves would never have happened if they had supported a similar proposal by Conservative Waverley councillors to transfer the housing stock to a housing association in 2000. Instead they chose to campaign aggressively against that proposal and it was narrowly rejected by tenants. The scaremongering headlines used in Liberal Democrat literature throughout that campaign strongly suggested that it was driven by political opportunism of the worst kind and they undoubtedly affected the result of that vote. It is ironic that a Liberal Democrat councillor is now complaining about misleading information being put about by a group of campaigners against the proposal. Many tenants will have remembered the information the Liberal Democrats put about last time and not surprisingly voted against the proposal for a second time. When the Conservative Waverley councillors proposed the transfer of local authority housing in 2000, they were implementing a widely accepted national policy that had already then been implemented across the country by some 120 local authorities of all political colours. It was the Liberal Democrats in Waverley who chose to turn it into a political issue. They must now face the consequences of that lost opportunity. Ever since tenants have been paying higher rents, Waverley has been financially weakened and, as the council leader put it last week, sacrifices are going to have to be made. John Littlewood, Greenhill Road, Farnham
