The countdown begins

By Liam Murphy on Jan 20, 10 12:25 PM

WIRRAL looks set to be a major battleground in this year's election, with the Tories hopeful of winning up to three of the borough's four seats.

Wirral West, where incumbent Stephen Hesford had a majority of just over a thousand votes last time round and has since seen boundary changes giving a notional Tory majority, is a major target. And Wirral South where Ben Chapman - who plans to step down at the election - saw Labour with a majority of under four thousand in 2005 is also high on the Conservative to do list.

But Wallasey is the one I will be watching most closely, where Angela Eagle won in 2005 with a 9,109 majority against Conservative Leah Fraser.

Nine thousand looks like a pretty safe majority, even with opinion polls showing significant leads for the Tories nationally. But the Conservative campaign machine is out in force across this constituency, with their councillors and volunteers knocking on doors four nights a week canvassing voters.

Combined with that Tory lead in the polls it is clear they hope to have a Conservative MP representing Wallasey for the first time since Angela Eagle defeated Linda (subsequently Baroness) Chalker in 1992 to become Wallasey's first ever Labour MP with a majority back then of 3,809.

Labour know they have a lot of work on their hands, and the campaign is set to heat up as we near the election - which many commentators expect on May 6 to coincide with the local elections. This could be significant as it is widely held to be in Labour's advantage to have both on the same day. In Wallasey Labour will be seeking to retain seats in key areas such as Leasowe and Seacombe, and I'm told they are not being complacent about this.

And I'm not the only one taking a close interest in this, with a new and unusual blog (www.sistermarysblog.blogspot.com) promising to pay close attention to the Conservative campaign in the constituency.

The blog describes itself as "the satirical blog of Sister Mary of Wallasey" and intriguingly adds: "A fellow sister in the Tory Party inspired Mary to bring this blog to life. You know who you are!" I look forward (I think) to finding out more.

By the way, for information Birkenhead Labour MP Frank Field, with a majority of 12,934 over Lib-Dem Stuart Kelly at the last election, has the 16th safest seat in Parliament according to www.theyworkforyou.com, so not much speculation about that one.

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