William James, the father of modern psychology, once observed that “There’s nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it”.
It would appear that Mike Jackson, the chairman of Watford’s Labour Party, is a fan of his work.
In his letter of published on these pages on October 14, Mr Jackson once again made the spurious claim that the last Labour government had “plans” for a new hospital in Watford that were cancelled in 2010. This is simply untrue.
READ MORE: Letter: Mayor must do her job
Labour politicians have repeatedly failed to produce any evidence for this so-called “plan”.
There was no funding agreement, design plans or planning agreement because there was no plan.
Indeed, under the last Labour government, hospitals could only be modernised or rebuilt after they secured foundation status. Watford General did not have this.
The Health Campus project, which Mr Jackson so happily derides, has secured the future of A&E and acute services here in Watford.
Our Liberal Democrat mayor and council have taken tough decisions to make this happen. We have backed and part-funded the new link road to improve hospital access.
We have supported the use of Farm Terrace to allow space for our hospital to improve and expand.
In both cases, Labour have chosen to undermine our hospital, preferring to repeat inaccurate claims about a plan that never existed.
It is unsurprising that Labour’s approach was so comprehensively rejected by the voters of Watford earlier this year.
With so-called friends like Watford’s Labour Party, we are fortunate that our hospital has so few enemies.
Peter Taylor Chairman, Watford Liberal Democrats
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