Finally, after false starts and keeping the public waiting, Gordon Brown has gone to the palace and called a General Election. Here in Bristol North West, the electorate will be voting not only for a local MP to serve them, but their choice of MP could also determine which Government runs the country.

That is because Bristol North West is a key Labour seat that Gordon Brown will want to win to cling onto power, and that the Conservatives must win to form a new Government and herald a fresh start.

Bristol North West is currently held by Labour MP Doug Naysmith, and notional results from the last General Election show that Labour are ahead of the Conservatives by only 1000 votes, with the Liberal Democrats trailing around 4,000 votes behind. These are the figures being used by the independent media – BBC, ITV, and SKY as well as academics.

Confused by different election graphs?

Although the local election results from this summer show the Conservatives ahead, these are not a good indication for the General Election, since many people who may vote for minority parties locally, vote Labour or Conservative at the General Election.

Comparing a local election to a General Election is like comparing apples and pears – which is why we use the results that the independent media, the bookies and the academics all use – showing a tight two horse race between Labour and Conservative.

Local woman, Charlotte Leslie, has been working in Bristol North West as the prospective MP for over three years. Charlotte has marked herself out by her energetic campaigning, her focus on action over words, and by her pledge to begin cleaning up politics by refusing to respond in kind to negative, personal, smears made against her.

It promises to be a closely fought, exciting campaign. Commenting, Charlotte said,

” I believe this country desperately needs a change.  I have been doing all I can to be the kind of change we want to see – clean, positive campaigning, with a focus on action, integrity and service.

Thank you to everyone who has been such a support over the last three years – especially to all those of you who have never voted Conservative before, but who have rallied behind our work so strongly.

I know we can not only win Bristol North West, but also begin to make the change we need to see in politics, and in our country.”

You can read more about Charlotte’s pledge about positive campaigning HERE

And you can read about her pledge on honesty and expenses HERE