POOLE Conservatives put on a show of strength in the town centre in a bid to end "stealth taxes" for council tenants.

MP Robert Syms, who says he is "outraged" at the way poorer tenants are forced to subsidise families hundreds of miles away, wants the unpopular council rent pool abolished.

Under the scheme, tenants in Poole - who each pay around £60 a week in rent - pay almost £3million pounds collectively into a central slush fund so cash can be redistributed to some of the poorest estates in the UK. And Poole receives nothing back from the fund.

Mr Syms said: "Why on earth should Poole tenants be contributing to council housing elsewhere, when that money could be used to help local people?

"I am outraged at this way of transferring money from some of my poorest constituents."

The MP was joined by councillors in Falkland Square who urged shoppers to sign a petition calling for an end to the scheme.

Mr Syms will hand the petition to government and table an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons.

Cllr Peter Adams, representing the Oakdale ward, said: "This system is crassly unfair. The people in most need are paying on average £630 a year for nothing.

"There is a lot of social housing in my ward and someone earning the basic wage is paying £12 a week - and that's on top of all the other taxes. This amounts to just another stealth tax on the people of Poole."