Don't waste your vote, this Thursday is Election Day

This Thursday, County Councils all over Britain are holding elections that will decide how millions of pounds of your taxes are spent so what you do with your vote is really important and will shape how much tax you will pay over the next four years and the sort of services you will receive.

These elections will have no effect over immigration or Europe as UKIP might want you to believe so its really important that you take time to look at what your candidates are proposing to do. A vote for UKIP will simply make it more likely that Labour and their Lib-Dem chums will risk the progress made by existing Conservative run authorities or prevent you from benefiting from a Conservative council if you don't currently have one.

Here in East Sussex there is a lot at stake, the Labour group proposed to increase your council tax by nearly 2% at the budget setting meeting a couple of months ago and here in Eastbourne, the ruling Lib-Dems rejected Conservative proposals for a 2% cut in the local portion of the tax. Only the Conservatives in East Sussex can be trusted to keep your tax low whilst continuing to invest in communities, technology, infrastructure and employment.

If you live in Eastbourne, here are your Conservative candidates for each division:

Devonshire - Colin Murdoch
Hampden Park - Simon Howe
Langney - Gordon Jenkins
Meads - Barry Taylor
Ratton - Colin Belsey
Sovereign - David Elkin
St Anthonys - Patrick Warner
Upperton - Tom Liddiard

If you live in the surrounding areas, here are your candidates:

Alfriston - Nick Bennett
Hailsham & Herstmonceux - Bill Bentley & Roger Thomas
Pevensey & Westham - Tony Freebody
Polegate, Willingdon & East Dean - Douglas Murray & Simon Popek

In this area of East Sussex, it's a straight choice between the Blue and Yellow teams (perhaps with the exception of Willingdon where our main opponents are the Independent Shing Family). It's a straight choice between a Conservative Council that since 2001 has cost you less and delivered more after taking over from the Lib-Lab coalition that had virtually bankrupted the authority. But if you can't remember when we last had it so bad, just take a look at the Lib-Dem run Council in Eastbourne for a sneak preview of the carnage that awaits us all; a crumbling public property portfolio that already looks set to cost residents over £10m to repair with the eventual figure likely to rise much much higher, expanded car parking schemes with higher charges for motorists and a dependency on spin of epidemic proportions that has seen EBC spend a whopping £5.5m in total on consultants since coming to power in 2007.

Only voting Conservative can stop East Sussex suffering a similar fate, a vote for Labour, The Green Party, Independent or UKIP will simply allow the Lib-Dems back to spread the chaos across the County and we simply cannot afford it.