Politicisation of Caerphilly Newsline Exposed by Reporter
Caerphilly Welsh Conservative spokesman, Owen Meredith, has repeated his call for Caerphilly County Borough Council (CCBC) to scrap its ‘Newsline’ newspaper after Wales Online (5th December) revealed that material used for the tax-payer funded publication was lifted straight from Plaid Cymru’s website.
In April, Mr Meredith criticised the Council after his Freedom of Information request showed that more than half a million pound of taxpayers’ money had been spent on Council self promotion over the last 5 years. CCBC spent £512,000 on its ‘Newsline’ publication between 2005/6 and 2010/11. The council refused to reveal its full marketing budget under the same request.
Mr Meredith commented:
“In April, Welsh Conservatives exposed the shocking levels of taxpayers’ money being ploughed in to this vanity newspaper.
“Today we have seen shocking evidence of the abuse of taxpayer funds by Plaid Cymru. There is now nowhere for them to hide. The Newsline has been well and truly exposed as the shameful propaganda tool we have always said it was.
“In hard times, Caerphilly Council are spending the taxes of more than 110 council tax payers every year on this Plaid Cymru mouthpiece. It should be scrapped today!
“Both Labour and Plaid administrations in Caerphilly have indulged in self promotion through the Newsline. The Welsh Conservatives are the only party in Caerphilly who would scrap the paper and invest the money in frontline services, where it can make a real difference to local families.”
