UK - Brown washes hands of calls for fluoride vote

LABOUR sought to give its campaign for re-election in Southampton a boost with a visit from PM Gordon Brown.
But on one of the key local dividing lines in the election the Prime Minister again washed his hands of calls for a vote on adding fluoride to the tap water of 200,000 residents in and around the city.
As he arrived at Solent University's Sir James Matthews Building, he was cheered by supporters, although a few boos could also be heard.
Mr Brown was greeted by Labour candidates for Southampton Test and Itchen, Alan Whitehead and John Denham, and Portsmouth North candidate Sarah McCarthy-Fry
For an hour he fielded a wide range of unscripted questions from voters in one of his toughest question and answer sessions so far on the campaign.
He told the Daily Echo that he put job security and the future of public services as the top priorities for Southampton and said that they both depended on rebuilding a strong economy.
But when asked why residents did not deserve a referendum on the controversial decision by health chiefs to add fluoride to parts of the city's water, Mr Brown again distanced himself from the issue.
He said: "That's a decision for the local health authority. Of course we want people to be able to make local decisions and national decisions and that's why I've proposed a referendum on the constitution but it's not for me to dictate how people in Southampton make their local decisions.