Only by voting Conservative today will you get a new Government tomorrow that starts cleaning up the mess we are in.

The final hours of campaigning have been fast and furious.  It has been a pleasure to meet so many of you on the campaign trail – and thank you so much to all the volunteers who have helped.

Remember, a vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for five more years of Gordon Brown.

I very much hope I can count on your support at the polling station today, I may even see you there! I’m on your side.

If elected a Conservative government would make positive changes from day one and start to fulfil our no nonsense, no frills contract with the British people – to cut the waste, sort out the welfare mess, improve front line services and deliver change for the better. We won’t leave the poorest and the most vulnerable behind, because we’re all in this together.

We also published our contract for growth, setting out our plans to get the economy moving for everyone. Our contract sets out that a Conservative government will:

- cut government waste to stop Labour’s jobs tax, which threatens to kill the recovery;

- use government guarantees to get credit flowing to businesses and protect the economy from the risk of a second credit crunch, building on our plans for a National Loan Guarantee Scheme;

The Liberal Democrats’ policies for an immigration amnesty, to scrap prison sentences under six months, keep Labour’s jobs tax and join the euro would damage Britain and Wiltshire.

I started canvassing in Chippenham this morning before meeting with Conservative Future who helped this afternoon in Chippenham, before heading back to Hilperton.

Thank you again to all the team for their help

Nick Herbert, the Shadow Environment Secretary, explained that an ombudsman could stop supermarkets’ practice of “retrospective discounting”, where supermarkets go back to farmers and say they want to drive down prices that have already been agreed.  The Competition Commission recommended an ombudsman in April 2008, yet the current government have failed to implement this recommendation. 

I do believe supermarkets could do a huge amount more to support British farming and help to bridge the gap in understanding between food and farming.

One aspect of the supermarkets ability to control their costs is by having as few suppliers as possible. This in itself causes problems when it comes to supporting small local suppliers. Why buy one line of cheese from one small producer, when they can buy ten lines from just one of the multi national companies? By supermarkets not having the infrastructure to support small suppliers, it means that small suppliers have very few outlets available to them who can give them the volume they need to create a viable business. 

I very much hope that an ombudsman would be able to help resolve this and give greater opportunities to local farmers.  The benefits of local produce on the environment are clear as goods travel less far before reaching the consumer, thereby reducing our groceries carbon footprint. 

I also hope as part of the ombudsman’s plans for labelling there will be carbon information on packs so the consumer is aware of the cost to the environment of each of the products they have purchased. I would like to see a system where a product is not only measured for value for money, but also value to the environment.”