Will Dorset marginals help decide election? (From Bournemouth Echo)

Will Dorset marginals help decide election?

7:00pm Tuesday 9th March 2010 in

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DORSET’S marginal seats look likely to stage some of the key battles in the looming general election.

With polls suggesting the gap between Tories and Labour is shrinking in Britain’s key marginals, all eyes will be on the hotly-contested South Dorset constituency.

A Polulas poll, carried out for The Times, revealed more voters are switching from Labour to the Tories in key marginals, compared with the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, another daily YouGov poll for the Sun newspaper suggests Britain is heading for a hung parliament.

South Dorset Labour MP Jim Knight, who has a 1,800 majority and will go head-to-head with Conservative Prospective Party Candidate Richard Drax, said: “I would agree with what the Times poll is saying, that it is a very tight race between Conservative and Labour in my constituency.

“That means every vote counts – it’s up for grabs as far as either of us is concerned.”

Mr Drax said: “As we get nearer the election things will get to fever pitch.

“But I suspect, as with all elections, polls go up and down.

“I genuinely think there is a call out there for a change. What ever the polls say, I will continue to meet people and tell them what we stand for and time will tell.”

The Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency, another of the county’s marginal seats, is also shaping up to be a key fight.

Lib Dem MP Annette Brooke, who has a majority of 5,480, said: “What I’m hearing on the doorstep is people who were disillusioned with 19 years of Tory rule, disillusioned with a further 13 years of Labour rule and are saying to me, ‘I think it’s about time we gave your lot a chance.’”

Meanwhile, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate Nick King said the Mid Dorset seat could come down to the wire.

He stressed: “I think its going to be very, very close and every vote is going to count.

“It has been a dreadful time for politics, people are not as enthusiastic, but there is this grim determination out there to change things.”