ONE of the most closely-fought general election campaigns for a generation has officially started with confirmation that polling day will be on May 6.
Nationally the election is being billed in some quarters as “too close to call”, with serious talk of a hung parliament, and in North Devon a fierce political battle is expected.
The Conservatives are confident they can ride a surge of anti-Government feeling to topple North Devon’s Liberal Democrat MP, Nick Harvey, who has held the seat for 18 years.
At his campaign launch on Tuesday Mr Harvey said he was taking nothing for granted and he hoped electors would take note of his “good track record” locally and the policies put forward nationally by the Lib Dems.
His Conservative opponent, businessman Philip Milton, said North Devon had been “overlooked” because it had a Lib Dem candidate and it was “time for a change”.
Mr Harvey won the 2005 election with a 45.9% share of the vote ahead of that year’s Tory candidate, who polled 36.3%. The bookmaker Ladbrokes is offering odds of 4/6 on a Lib Dem win in North Devon, which would give a £66 payout on a £100 bet, if they held the seat.
The Conservative contender, Philip Milton, is at 11/10, which would give a £110 win on a £100 bet, if he won. Those odds mean the bookmakers calculate Mr Harvey, who has a 4,972 majority, is more likely to win, although not by a landslide.
Meanwhile, the Tories are confident they can hold Torridge and West Devon, where Geoffrey Cox has a majority of 3,236, and where the Lib Dems will battle hard to shore up their West Country power-base. In 2005 Mr Cox polled 42.7% of the vote compared to the Lib Dems on 37.2%. Ladbrokes have Mr Cox at 1/16 to retain his seat and his Lib Dem opponent Adam Symons at 6/1, meaning they believe the Tory candidate is the clear favourite to win.
All other candidates in North Devon and Torridge have been given odds of 100/1 to win, meaning the bookmaker believes them unlikely to win.
The political parties have been bringing well-known faces — their “big guns” — to North Devon and Torridge over recent months and those sort of appearances could become more common during the April campaign.
On Thursday last week the Conservative’s chairman of policy review, Oliver Letwin, visited Ilfracombe with Mr Milton and North Devon Council leader Des Brailey. During the visit Mr Milton said Ilfracombe and North Devon had been “overlooked during two decades with a Liberal Democrat MP” and he urged voters to make a fresh start.
Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown, who visited South Molton in January, will be at a Lib Dem rally at the Plough in Torrington tonight with Mr Symons, who said people were “fed up with a system where your vote doesn’t count, and where ordinary people feel powerless”.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was in the region in February. The Communist Party is the most recent to reveal its candidate, Gerrard Sables, for North Devon, bringing the total number of candidates to nine. Torridge has five candidates so far.
All nominations for the election must be made by Tuesday, April 20. The North Devon candidates confirmed for the 2010 election so far are: Nick Harvey (Lib Dem); Philip Milton (Cons); Mark Cann (Labour); Rodney Cann (Ind); Nigel Vidler (English Democrats); Stephen Crowther (UKIP); L’Anne Knight (Green); Gary Marshall (BNP); Gerrard Sables (Communist). all corr sp The Torridge and West Devon candidates confirmed so far are: Geoffrey Cox (Cons); Adam Symons (Lib Dem); Robin Julian (UKIP); Darren Jones (Lab); Cathrine Simmons (Green). all corr sp The North Devon count will start as soon as polls close and the results will be declared in the morning.
The Torridge count will start at 10am on Friday, May 7 in Holsworthy Sports Hall and the results will be declared by late afternoon.
The North Devon Count will start as soon as polls close and continue through the night.
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