Picture of Eastbourne used in Bexhill Tories' newsletter

The Bexhill and Battle Conservative Association recently distributed its four-page newsletter, Bexhill Matters, outlining what the party says it has achieved for the town and what its aims are for the future.

But the Bexhill Labour Party has criticised the leaflet, as a picture captioned The Picture Playhouse shows Eastbourne’s Wetherspoons pub in Cornfield Road, Eastbourne rather than Bexhill’s Western Road venue.

The party also said the newsletter was full of spelling mistakes.

Bexhill Labour Party’s spokesman Sam Coleman said: “A litany of grammar and spelling errors, followed by a picture mistaking Eastbourne town centre for Bexhill either shows blinding arrogance or dizzying incompetence.

“But for the Conservative council leader, Carl Maynard, to incorrectly blame the printers on social media is not only a blatant falsehood but is an absolutely deplorable attempt to shirk responsibility.”

Labour told the Observer it carried out an investigation which it said revealed that the company that printed the newsletter played no part in the choice of pictures nor text for the leaflet and the errors were ‘wholly down to the Bexhill and Battle Conservatives’.

Labour’s 2017 Parliamentary candidate for Bexhill and Battle, Christine Bayliss said: “Move over Shakespeare, we have a new comedy of errors.”

Cllr Maynard said: “Should the local Labour Party wish to criticise a genuine mistake yet fail to debate or challenge any of the positive narrative within the Bexhill Matters newspaper it clearly demonstrates what a well-balanced newsletter it is.

“This really is them playing party politics at a level no better than that of a school playground.”