Once again Councillor Tibby seeks the headline, instead of staying and fighting on behalf of the people he represents.

The newly formed licensing board has been given the task of deciding whether pubs etc applying for licences of various forms including those landlord/owners who might want 24-hour opening.

To be honest I have yet to meet anyone associated with pubs wishing to take up this option and I don't think councillors who serve on Dartford's licensing board have either.

Cllr Tibby didn't find anyone who wanted this or he might have declared who and where this owner and premises were to be found. Was that the case when you, Cllr Tibby, sat as a member of the board or not? Staff costs alone make them view the idea as practically impossible.

So yet again Cllr Tibby is in the business of grabbing a headline instead of staying on the licensing board and fighting on behalf of those who possibly have a grievance in the future. Democracy only begins to work if you stay and fight your corner always remembering that sometimes you win and at other times you lose.

From the evidence that I have received to date, no applications have been dealt with for 24-hour opening and where other applications have been considered and subsequently made by the board its decisions, as yet, have not been challenged.

So it would appear the board has been making the right decisions so why does Cllr Tibby run away from decision making?

Cllr Tibby regularly seems to do this, it is his usual practice to run to another political party when he cannot gets his own way, once a Conservative, then a Liberal, a Lib Dem and then on to parties of the far right.

How can anyone have any credibility whatsoever when he has done this on such a regular basis over the past few years?

I am not sure when Cllr Tibby was last on the mainland of Europe, I was there with my wife and colleagues two weeks ago. We visited four different countries in just a week. At no time were we offered a bowl of pasta before we had a drink, never. From where does Cllr Tibby get these weird and untrue statements? Bars and restaurants on the continent offer the same hospitality as the good old British pub, you can certainly meet your family and friends in the continental 'pub', as so many are now called, for a convivial chat over a drink without any pasta.

Cllr Tibby has the right not to wish to join and become a member of the European Union, in no way do I deny him this freedom. However, when I read such outrageous and totally misleading statements then we need to be very careful that the government of this country never gets into the hands of people such as this.

Ivor Jones, St James Lane, Horns Cross