Tony Page (article and letters, Chronicle, May 6, pictured above) is, not for the first time, attempting to deliberately mislead the public and smear other political parties, this time over residents' parking.

A disgraceful Labour leaflet delivered in Abbey Ward in the local elections smeared ourselves and Tory councillors by claiming we were going to charge for the first parking permits and open up all residents' parking zones for shared use at all times.

This is nothing but a tissue of lies. It is not the first time Tony Page and his Labour cronies have been dishonest with Reading's electorate.

It gives the lie to Anneliese Dodds' pledge to run a 'clean campaign', although when I challenged her about Labour's lies, she said she was unaware of the leaflet. That in itself says a lot about Reading's Labour Party.

It echoes the ridiculous statements of some national Labour politicians about the talks following the General Election, when Labour refused to go beyond the positions set out in its manifesto and engaged in negotiations in a manner that could be politely described as frivolous and inconsistent.

It was clear they had no intention of remaining in Government to sort out the appalling mess they have left of the country and its finances in particular.

Labour's failure to be able to tell the truth is but one reason why they are unfit to govern and, increasingly in the cases of some of them, unfit to hold public office.

Cllr Gareth Epps, Liberal Democrat 2010 Parliamentary candidate for Reading East