THE General Election may be over but the sniping continues.

The Lib Dems came under fire over their leaflets produced as Paula Ferguson attempted to defeat Steve Brine last month.

Conservative councillor Sue Cook said some households got more than 30 leaflets and at full Council asked how they were being disposed and whether it was appropriate for such a quantity of paper to be produced by a party supporting action on the climate crisis.

Cllr Martin Tod, Cabinet member, answered: “I’m sure Cllr Cook will be pleased to know that Winchester Lib Dems, wherever possible, work with printers who offer climate neutral printing and climate neutral shipping. We would hope that the Conservatives could take a similar approach.

“Every month the council collects and recycles around 193 tonnes of paper and cardboard – and our estimate is that, on average, each household across the district received less than 200g of Liberal Democrat literature during the campaign – about the same weight as a single copy of the Hampshire Chronicle. This added around two per cent by weight to the amount recycled across the district in November and December.

“Given that the Lib Dems don’t have tons of newspapers such as the Daily Mail, Daily Express, Sun etc produced every day in support of our party, we will continue to produce our own printed materials to challenge government and county council complacency on issues such as climate change and make no apology for doing so.”