YOUR correspondent Stephen Bate in his inaccurate letter about the resort casinos debate at Westminster (Citizen, July 18) claimed that I had tried to mislead Parliament by saying about resort casinos "the vast majority of people in Blackpool take the view that this would be of great benefit".
In fact he should be more careful in his economy with the truth. What I actually said was (which he must have known from the official Hansard report) was "the vast majority of people, groups and associations take the view that there could be great benefit from resort casinos but that we need to see the details of the proposals".
I then specifically referred to the issue of the local community needing to benefit directly via a levy or hypothecation.
Constituents who want to read my full speech rather than Mr Bate's selective version should contact my office by writing to Gordon Marsden MP, House of Commons, London SW1A OAA and we will be happy to send them a copy.
Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool South.
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