Conservative co-chairman Nigel Huddleston says the party has a strong track record of delivering value for money through better services at lower costs. He praised local Tory councillors for their commitment to community issues like road maintenance and social care, while downplaying defections as a normal part of politics. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00In local elections, we've got a really good reputation across the country of delivering good value for money,
00:05and that means delivering better services at a lower cost than other parties when they run those councils.
00:11And also we've got really good councillors, you know, people who are embedded in their local communities,
00:15who know what they're talking about and are really passionate about serving their friends and neighbours.
00:20And also we focus, Conservatives focus on things that people in local areas really care about,
00:26and to some people these might sound mundane, but they're really important things,
00:29so it's things like, you know, the potholes and the bin collections and the roads,
00:33but also things like education, adult and children's social care.
00:37So sometimes people really underestimate quite what the remit of delivery of local government is,
00:42and we're laser focused on delivering those things really, really well, delivering value for money,
00:46and making sure that local government really serves its local community.
00:49When it comes to defections, let's be clear, they go both ways,
00:54and defections at local government level are not uncommon.
00:58But certainly what we're doing is getting lots and lots of people standing from a diversity of backgrounds
01:04to be our candidates, because they share our values and our principles,
01:08and want to do the job as Conservative candidates delivering locally.
01:12And therefore people who buy into those values and our principles and our local government policies, that's great.
01:18If people decide that they don't buy into Conservative policies and principles,
01:22then it's probably the right thing to do, to think about being another party.
01:26But that goes both ways as well, because we've had people who, for example,
01:30don't like what other parties are doing, and have come over to us.
01:34That's the nature of politics, that is politics, you know.