Boris Johnson revealed his party now considers Nottingham as ‘crucial’ to the outcome of the General Election as the Conservatives brought major political clout to their city campaign for the second time in a week.
The foreign secretary visited RH Commercial Vehicles to lend support to Jane Hunt, who is standing for the Conservatives in Nottingham South in the June 8 poll.
His visit came six days after Prime Minister Theresa May made her second visit to Nottinghamshire in five weeks.
Nottingham South, which stretches from Radford and Lenton to the Meadows and Clifton, has been held by Labour since 1992, with Lilian Greenwood the MP since 2010.
RH Commercial Vehicles was formed in 1977, and is the Renault dealer for Nottinghamshire.
The company has two purpose-built facilities at Lenton Lane, Nottingham and Cossington, Leicester, plus a 64,000 sq ft site in Alfreton.
When asked why the Conservatives had apparently decided to focus on Notts in the early weeks of the campaign, he said: “How can anyone want to stay away from Notts for more than six days?
“It’s clearly a crucial battleground for the election but one where we feel there’s a story to tell about companies like this. Our goal is to care for everyone in our economy.
“Most want Theresa May over [Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn and that’s because they want a strong stable government to deliver.”
Ms Greenwood has promised to continue fighting for better rail services in Nottinghamshire, criticised the Government’s record on school funding in Nottingham and on Tuesday pointed to staffing problems at the Queen’s Medical Centre as an example of what critics say is the Conservatives’ failure to properly back the NHS.
She tweeted: “Our local hospital after seven years of Tory Government – one third of nursing jobs at A&E are being filled by agency staff.”
Other candidates standing in Nottingham South on June 8 include David Hollas for the UK Independence Party, Adam McGregor for the Green Party and Tony Sutton for the Liberal Democrats.
