ChemistryEquipment: Cameron 'fighting for every vote'

Friday, January 7, 2011

Cameron 'fighting for every vote'

David Cameron insists the Conservatives are fighting hard in Oldham East

Prime Minister David Cameron is promoting his economic growth plans on a visit to the North-West of England.

He is being accompanied by Lord Heseltine, recently appointed chair of a new regional growth task force.

The Tory leader has also promised to hit the campaign trail in Oldham East and Saddleworth, with a week to go before a crucial by-election.

He has denied the Tories are soft-pedalling in the seat to give coalition partners the Lib Dems a better chance.

Nick Clegg's party is in need of a boost after it registered the lowest opinion poll rating in its history in the wake of public anger over their U-turn on tuition fees.

Paying his second visit to the constituency on Wednesday, Mr Clegg said his party were "here to win".

Mr Cameron visited a £4.5bn development in the Wirral, where he was joined by Sir Terry Leahy, the outgoing chief executive of Tesco, and other business leaders to discuss the government's new Local Enterprise Partnerships, which are being brought in to replace Regional Development Agencies.

Mr Cameron said the partnerships, which are joint ventures between local authorities and business, "will work for renewal and be locally driven".

In a speech in Manchester he is encouraging firms to bid for money from the £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund, announced in November to boost private sector growth in parts of England facing public sector job cuts. The grants, which will be available throughout England, will run from 2011 to 2014.

Labour said it hoped Mr Cameron's plans would work - but accused the coalition of going "too far and too fast" in its efforts to cut Britain's budget deficit and of lacking a "credible" growth strategy.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC News Channel: "His only growth strategy seems to be a deficit reduction strategy.

"The rate of jobs being taken out of the public sector won't match jobs coming from the private sector."

Mr Cameron is expected to join the campaign trail in Oldham East later, a sign, he says, of how seriously he is taking the contest.

Conservative candidate Kashif Ali told the BBC News Channel: "It's getting very close. There's no truth in the suggestion we are running a soft campaign."

He added: "We are seeing a momentum building towards the Conservative Party. It's going to be a tough race but it's a three-horse race."

Labour leader Ed Miliband, who was in the constituency on Monday to support the party's candidate Debbie Abrahams, is hoping to capitalise on public anger over this week's VAT rise and government cuts.

At the general election Labour's Phil Woolas got 31.9% of votes and Lib Dem Elwyn Watkins 31.6%, with Conservative Mr Ali getting 26.4%. The BNP got 5.7% of votes, UKIP 3.9% and the Christian Party 0.5%.

But the result was declared void by a special election court, which found Mr Woolas had lied about Mr Watkins in election literature.

Mr Woolas was stripped of his seat, expelled by the Labour Party and banned from standing for election for three years.

The full list of candidates (in alphabetical order) is:

Debbie Abrahams (Labour)Derek Adams (British National Party)Kashif Ali (Conservative)Peter Allen (Green Party)David Bishop (Bus-Pass Elvis Party)The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party)Loz Kaye (Pirate Party of the United Kingdom)Stephen Morris (English Democrats)Paul Nuttall MEP (UK Independence Party)Elwyn Watkins (Liberal Democrats)

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.