Here are the latest despatches from
the first three of our panel of candidates, giving their takes on how the fourth week of
the campaign has gone. More to follow later in the day...
Hannah Foster - Exeter
Another good week in Exeter. Still no big move to the Lib Dems on the doorstep and generally more firming up of pledges.
On Wednesday evening we had the best canvass of the campaign. 25 people on the doorstep in three teams in three very different areas. We knocked on over 1,000 doors and spoke to around 600 people – and it felt good. We followed it we with a new Exeter tradition, campaign curry at the ironically named Red Rose!
Wednesday also saw Eric Pickles paying us a visit in the battlebus (well, battle-van to be precise). We got a spot in Bedford Square, right in the city centre. Lots of people wanting to talk to us – all good.
We spent yesterday with our last big canvass before rolling over for polling day and only got soaked once! As we go into the final straight we are more optimistic than four weeks ago and ready for the finish line.
Stuart Andrew - Pudsey
We started off our week with a visit by London Mayor, Boris Johnson, in the centre of Leeds and he certainly drew in the crowds. So many people wanted a picture with him and the expressions of good wishes was most encouraging.
It is clear that as we get closer to the election, the many people who were undecided at the start of the campaign, have started to make up their minds. I am particularly struck by the amount of times I hear "it definitely won't be Labour". Let us hope that is true!
Despite this, the Labour Party continues to fight a very negative campaign based on frightening some of the most vulnerable people in our constituency into voting for them. They continue to say we will scrap the bus passes for pensioners, prevent cancer patients from seeing specialists within two weeks, tell young families we will scrap Sure Start centres and now the unions are telling PCSOs they are under thereat if we win. Desperate tactics by a desperate party.
We continue to fight a positive campiagn on the issues that matter and only yesterday I lost count of the number of lifelong Labour voters who went out of their way to tell me: "No more, we want change and you've got our vote". I am keeping everything crossed.
Lee Martin - Sunderland Central
In my campaign diary for last week I said that the scale of the postal
vote – 40 per cent of Sunderland voters have postal votes – meant that
Saturday 24th was effectively our election day. So you’d forgive my
campaign team for thinking they’d be able to ease up a little. Not a
bit of it. The postal votes might have arrived but there are thousands
of people yet to make up their minds.
The week started with the news that we’d been reclassified as a
battleground seat – for those of us on the inside it’s never been
anything but – although both The Telegraph and The Sun get the seat
wrong.
Tuesday
sees William Hague back in the city. The plan is to meet at The
Chesters pub before a walkabout on Chester Road shops and then onto
Villette Road to meet more voters. He’s early. The candidate isn’t.
“How’s it going?”, William asks. “Really well”, I reply. Adding that I’m pleased that this morning’s Sun had named Houghton & Sunderland South as the target seat otherwise I might start to feel under pressure. Little did I know that the man stood next to him at the bar was The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn – good start Lee! With the BBC, ITV and the local press in tow, inconspicuous we were not.
‘Royalty on Chester Road’ was one rumour doing the rounds – no doubt aided by the fact The Sun’s photographer was none other than Arthur Edwards. That man is a star in his own right. The walkabouts go well – plenty of real people happy to meet William.
Wednesday is back to hard graft as we hit the streets with my ‘Labour – no ambition for Sunderland’ card. Thursday starts with The Sun – Bigotgate has wiped us from the headlines. There goes my chance to claim it was The Sun Wot Won It – and has us leafleting right up until the start of the final Leader’s Debate. The debate – which to my mind was by far the best – would surely mean we wouldn’t make Friday’s Sun either. I’d promised to text a comment on the debate to a local journalist. That was easy. DC looked and sounded every bit Britain’s next Prime Minister. The set wasn’t half bad either.
Friday is the first opening session for the postal votes at the Puma Tennis Centre, more delivery and an online Q&A session for the Sunderland Echo. Saturday is more delivery. But no sooner do I set foot out of the car than I’m told some bigot has slashed all of our replacement poster boards on the A690. Not to worry, they’ll go back up tomorrow I tell the team as we head out to deliver the target seats newspaper.
As we set off news comes through that Gordon Brown is at a Labour rally at The National Glass Centre on the north bank of the Wear. A Labour Prime Minister in Sunderland on the final Saturday of the General Election campaign – they really are in trouble!
