SPOTLIGHT ON: GHOST SHIPS & ENVIRONMENT

Back to the Hartlepool by-election campaign...

SPOTLIGHT ON: GHOST SHIPS & ENVIRONMENT

Let's have a look at how the candidates shape up on the subject of GHOST SHIPS & ENVIRONMENT.

LABOUR
Every single extra job that comes to the area must pass two tests: First there must be no risk to the health of the worker who takes the job. Second, there must be no risk whatsoever to the people of the town. I will fight ant proposals - ghost ships, chemical waste in the salt mines, or anything that could be unsafe.


CONSERVATIVE
At present we are in the worst of all worlds - with Labour's ghost ships haunting Hartlepool's dock. First Margaret Beckett said yes they are safe - come in: Then Alistair Darling said no they are not - go away: Then four turn up anyway. You cannot trust a word Blair's Government says.


LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
Hartlepool must not be Labour's dumping ground. Too little progress has been made in clarifying the legality of the ghost ships still festering off the coast, but the community must be involved in the decision making process. Hartlepool should not be expected to deal with toxic waste from the United States.


UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY
Hartlepool didn't want the ghost ships and doesn't want them now. I know the ships would create jobs, but this is short-term gain. The price would be too high if it turned Hartlepool into a dumping ground for the world.


RESPECT
There is a danger our town is getting a reputation as the toxic dustbin of the North East. We need to plan our future around cleaner, safer industries, such as marine engineering and renewable energy enterprises. We must have Respect for our environment.


ENGLISH DEMOCRATS
Can you imagine the Welsh and Scottish parliaments allowing a situation such as the saga of the ghost ships to develop in one of their towns equivalent of Hartlepool? We need a parliament and government for England to proudly care for us and our environment!


PHIL BERRIMAN
Peter Stephenson of ABLE UK is a true, self-made, Hartlepool-born success story spanning over 30 years in business. Greenpeace supports ABLE after successfully recycling BRENT SPAR, more hazardous than the ships. Get a grip Hartlepool! you've nothing to gain from voting for anybody destroying a local man's local company.


RONNIE CARROLL
The question of the ghost ships and the environment is a classic example of how direct democracy should work. This is surely a question that should be debated between and decided by the people of Hartlepool.


SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY
Global warming continues unabated while the governments of Britain and the USA bow the knee before the multi-national corporations and the oil companies who put profit before the well-being of the planet. We are resolutely opposed to these ghost ship toxic time-bombs.


THE COMMON GOOD PARTY
The ghost ship issue needs calm consideration. We don't want pollution of the environment and health hazards for our population and workforce, but the North-East does need jobs and industry. If the ships can be dismantled safely then the work should be done in Hartlepool.


GREEN PARTY
I helped expose the contempt shown for the law on both sides of the Atlantic by ABLE's contract, and demand that the Government return the ships to help Hartlepool shed its image as the world's toxic dump. Only the Greens offer policies based on social justice and ecologist sustainability.


NATIONAL FRONT
Protect our existing green areas particularly in our cities, our immigration policies will stop a lot of unnecessary new house building. Make maximum use of recycling, apart from protecting our natural resources it will cut down on imported new raw materials.


FATHERS 4 JUSTICE
The ghost ships issue highlights the problem of jobs V's alleged environmental pollution. Let the people of Hartlepool decide. Stop telling the people of Hartlepool what is good and what is bad for them, Give them the facts, not the spin, and let them make up their own minds.


OFFICIAL MONSTER RAVING LOONY PARTY
The only ghost ship I knew was the Marie Celeste!