ACCORDING to Mr Buckland (SA, May 5) the Labour Party is trying to make political gain from the fact that the Tory administration is charging Swindon council house tenants twice for the warden service.

As the Advertiser pages have made clear it was council tenants who brought the problem to their local councillors and we advised what they should do It was other council tenants across the borough who took up the fight for justice.

Petitions were started in Swindon North and South and these have been forwarded in the first instance to the Speaker of the House of Commons. They will also be presented to the borough council.

For your information, Mr Buckland, it was Coun Thompson, as chairman of the Crime and Disorder Partnership, who persuaded the partnership to make a bid for street wardens for the Parks and Walcot East area.

This area had just established a regeneration company to help tackle the problems in the area.

The street wardens scheme was very successful to the extent the Government made Swindon a regional centre of excellence in the south west.

However, the Government made clear that all schemes funded as a trial by the Government would be continued by the local authority from their own resources when government funding ran out.

Swindon Borough Council agreed to the criteria, yet the Tory administration reneged on the deal at first, wanting council tenants to pay the whole cost as identified in their pre-budget proposals.

This was stopped when Coun Thompson pointed out that they may be acting illegally in seeking to make tenants pay for a service that was enjoyed by all residents.

So to clarify, the Labour Group does not support the double-charging policy. It is unfair and unjust. We will continue to work with tenants to ensure that this policy is reversed.

Coun S ALLSOPP.

Swindon