Harlow's Liberal Democrats have issued a challenge to local Tories to withdraw a misleading leaflet circulated in the town's Little Parndon & Town Centre county division. The leaflet, dated November 2004, claims that there is "no recovery plan following the [council's] 'poor' performance appraisal".

Harlow Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Lorna Spenceley has written to the leaflet's promoter, Tory councillor Simon Carter, demanding that the offending leaflet be withdrawn and an apology issued for misleading local residents.

Mrs Spenceley said:

"The Conservative Group voted unanimously for the council's recovery plan on 14 October. To issue a leaflet in November claiming that the plan does not exist is misleading and untruthful.

"Local residents are used to being misled by Harlow Tories - in the Passmores part of the same county division two years ago, Cllr Carter published a leaflet falsely telling residents that their rents would rise by ten per cent a year for ten years, and the Conservatives were forced to apologise. But that's no excuse. It appears nothing has changed; Harlow Tories are still misleading local people."