THE three prospective parliamentary candidates who have been chosen to fight the Bromsgrove seat at the next General Election have given their views on the Queen's speech.

Delivered to the House of Lords last Wednesday at the State opening of Parliament, it was the slimmest since Labour came to power, fuelling speculation of a spring election.

In the speech the Queen confirmed crime and disorder and health were the main issues for the coming legislative year.

The town's Tory MP Julie Kirkbride dismissed the content: "There is little in this for Bromsgrove. It won't give us a fairer share of central Government funding to pay for our local services. It won't tackle the crisis of long waiting times and bed-blocking in our local NHS and it offers merely gimmicks on law and order instead of more police on the beat.

"It is just the usual spin and no delivery from a Labour Government which hopes to trick the British people into giving them a second term in office."

Her Labour opponent, Peter McDonald, not surprisingly took a different view.

He said: "The speech builds on our aims to provide a more responsible and civilised society, and improve the NHS.

"It also highlights Labour's determination to come down hard on crime and protect the most vulnerable by tackling the yob culture in our society.

"We will also continue to build and maintain the strong economy, which Labour has achieved since coming to power, and seek to ban hunting with dogs, which harks back to the Dark Ages."

The Liberal Democrat's prospective candidate, Margaret Rowley, said the Government had put forward a "limited programme for its last few months in office.

"The Queen's speech was a meaningless war of words from a Government that has run out of steam and a Tory party who can't make their tax plans add up.

"There was nothing on the environment, nothing on transport and nothing to help rural communities despite the expectations built up by the rural White Paper."