Big guns join

election

battle

THE major parties are all expected to call up their big names to visit the key South East Cornwall constituency in the run up to the General Election on June 7.

First to arrive next week will be Ian Duncan Smith, Shadow Secretary for Defence who is to visit Torpoint, supporting candidate Ashley Gray. It is likely he will be followed during the campaign by Shadow Chancellor Michael Portillo, agricultural spokesman Tim Yeo and Shadow Foreign Secretary Francis Maud.

Tory leader William Hague is also expected to tour Cornwall as a whole in a bid to help regain all the Tory seats lost to the Lib Dems, and to Labour at Falmouth/Camborne, the first time in its history that the county has not had a Tory MP.

But the LibDems will be fighting their usual tough campaign, and Colin Breed, who became the party's agricultural spokesman during the last parliament, can be sure of strong support from leader of the party Charles Kennedy, who is expected to roll into South East Cornwall's towns aboard his 'battle bus'.

Labour's candidate, and the youngest at 26, will be former Plymouth councillor Bill Stevens – his party received a visit to Cornwall from Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on Wednesday. He stopped at Falmouth/Camborne but bypassed South East Cornwall to go on to the Plymouth Sutton marginal.

Other candidates in the field are the U K Independent's Graham Palmer from Yelverton, and Mebyon Kernow's Dr Ken George, a university lecturer who lives with his family at Seaton.

As well as the government seat, constituents will also have electioneering from candidates standing for the Cornwall County Council elections taking place on the same day.

Tamar Bridge

delay for

John Prescott

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott, who is also in charge of transport, had first hand experience this week of the delays endured by the thousands of motorists who cross the Tamar Bridge every day, as he headed for Plymouth.

Mr Prescott, hitting the campaign trail in his luxury coach on the second day of campaigning, was delayed on the bridge for 20 minutes arriving in Plymouth 45 minutes late for his half an hour whistle-stop stay.