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  Had this very interesting mailing in from Wendy Hansell. Many thanks Wendy always good to hear from yourself and Reg.
  
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  I left the Labour party over the handling of the 'Women Only short list's' 6 years ago. I have always voted labour.
  
  Women will get where they want to be, regardless of men. I was elected the first Labour Woman Chairman of Dover District Council. Elected NOT by a women only list.
  
  When the women only list came to Dover via the County Council Election it was recommended that where there was a two Cllr ward one should be a women's only list. This meant that it should be Mr Eddy and Mr Birkett's seat in Deal. But Mr Eddy didn't want this, so as he was leader of the County Labour Group and less popular locally than Mr Birkett he changed it to The Dover Rural seat held by Reg Hansell ( My husband)
  
  A short list of candidates was made up of Jean Newman, Eileen Rowbotham and myself. At the selection meeting Jean withdrew as she only wanted to make a point. I attended but informed the selectors that I was only there to inform them of what had been going on behind the scenes and the reasons why this was not, in my opinion a good idea, and withdrew my candidacy. That left Eileen Rowbotham to walk into the seat. Had she withdrawn at that time we would not of been required to carry on with an all women list but could of returned to an open list. Needless to say she didn't and we lost what one of the local papers wrote was the best value for money Cllr we have ever had.
  
  My main point in writing is to point out that Mr Eddy pushed and pushed for the women only list until it fell on his ward. He then fought the constituency who were against WO Lists changed the ward to save himself but pushed for W O list once it wasn't going to affect him..Now it seems that he had hopes of standing for M.P. It has come back to bite him. However in the mean time Labour has lost many of the people who worked hard to make it strong and a reputable force to be reckoned with.
  
  People should be chosen not by race,gender,religion or disability but by what they as individuals can offer.
  
  Wendy Hansell
  
  PS.We suggest the Labour Party reconsider!!

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