HARLOW Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate, Laura McAlpine, has responded to the Your Harlow article “Harlow MP vows to ‘clamp down on potholes’” posted earlier this week.

Mr. Halfon had urged local residents to report any potholes to the Council and stated: “Our town and road infrastructure is riddles with potholes, and i want this to change. Small white van businesses and motorists depend on good roads.”

In response, Laura McAlpine said: “Robert Halfon now wants to talk about Harlow’s potholes? He has had absolutely nothing to say whilst local councillors, local Labour Party members and the Leader of the council, Mark Ingall, have had running battles with the Tory County Council, in some cases for more than 3 years, regarding the shocking state of our roads. (In the interests of fairness, I have to observe that this has even been an issue where Labour and UKIP councillors have found common ground). The only voices missing from the increasing call of demands for action since 2015 has been those of Robert Halfon and the local Tories.
 

Ms. McAlpine (pictured at a Labour led demonstration on Southern Way) has branded Robert Halfon ‘late to the party’ on the issue of tackling potholes in Harlow.

“Robert may have missed the Labour led demonstrations on Southern Way (which I took part in), the leader of the Council’s video of the worst potholes in Harlow, or the countless previous attempts by Labour councillors to convince Essex County Council to commit to action. He may not even know about ECC Highways simply not turning up to speak with concerned residents and local councillors last March.
 
“It is frankly an insult to the people of Harlow that Robert Halfon imagines this kind of ‘late to the party’ populist bandwagon jumping is not easily recognised for what it is – a brazen attempt to insert himself into an issue on which I, the people of Harlow, Harlow Council, as well as other parties with the exception of the Tories, have been battling Essex County Council for whilst Robert ‘looked the other way’. Now that some Government funding has been announced, he sees an opportunity to claim credit for something he has roundly ignored for years. How gullible does he think the voters of Harlow are?”