Priti Patel, the local Conservative election candidate, is trying to spin her way out of a tight corner. In an interview last week she told the Braintree and Witham Times that our campaign was “factually wrong and they haven’t even spoken to me”. But we have spoken to Priti. Before our campaign launched Priti was contacted and she confirmed that everything we’d written was correct.

Her employers, a global PR and political lobbying firm, describe her as “a great hire… powerfully connected within Cameron’s Conservatives”. It’s time for Priti to stop spinning and come clean on her lobbying links – then pledge to ban secret lobbying.

There’s lots of local support for a ban on secret lobbying – which is why the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green candidates have all signed the pledge. But Priti has refused.

At the moment, we don’t have a right to know who is lobbying the government or how much money they’re spending. That’s why we need to introduce a public, mandatory register of lobbyists – a ban on secret lobbying.

Write to the Braintree and Witham Times now to make sure they get the story straight and don’t just report Priti’s spin.