Councillor Ahmad says the Tories have ditched plans for wheelie bins as they are "not a priority". Surveys show around 80 per cent of local people want wheelie bins.

They deter foxes, reduce litter, increase recycling and save money as they are easier to collect.

The new Tory Council clearly thinks its image is a higher priority than collecting rubbish.

In six months all they have done is replace Merton's logo with the name of their manifesto - spending taxpayers' money promoting their political slogans - and print over 100,000 postcards saying the borough is cleaner (although they forgot to mention the improvement took place under Labour).

And their next spending plan is to do up their own office!

Coun Ahmad says they've got no money for wheelie bins but if they'd maintained Labour's prudent management of Merton's finances instead of spending our money on their vanity, they wouldn't be in this mess.

Despite having the biggest budget Merton has ever had, the Tories have already overspent by nearly £4million.

Running an efficient borough is a tough job, but Labour always balanced the budget.

We found £17million of efficiency savings and offered value for money services with below-average council tax rises.

We even paid off £54million of debts (mostly dating back to when the Tories were last in control).

If the Tories want to dispose of anything, it should be their own vanity and financial incompetence, not our wheelie bins.

COUNCILLOR MARK ALLISON Labour Lavender Fields ward