Gordon Brown has fired the official starting gun: the general election will be on Thursday May 6th.

This election matters. It’s a choice between Labour, who is fighting hard to secure the recovery and to protect jobs and frontline services, and the Tories – whose plans to cut support for the economy and to cut services like Sure Start would risk the recovery and hit ordinary families hard.

From now until polling day I’ll be going out and meeting people in every part of this constituency. I’ll be setting out a positive message for the future: how I’ll work to bring new jobs to Leicester West, make faster progress in our local schools, back tough action on crime and anti-social behaviour, and provide better care for older people.

Politics matters, this election matters, and the views of people in Leicester West matter. I’m determined to earn their trust and support. As Gordon Brown said: lets go to it!