VOTERS in Dursley, Cam and Berkeley should prepare themselves for a day and night of drama as the nail-bitingly close race to become Stroud’s next MP reaches the finish line.
It seems we are in store for one of the closest ever battles for the Stroud constituency, with Labour’s David Drew currently tipped to regain the seat he lost to Conservative Neil Carmichael in 2010.
Although the bookmakers have made Mr Drew the 1/2 favourite, the result is still very much on a knife-edge as just over 1,000 votes were the difference between him and Mr Carmichael in 2010 and it is likely to be just as tight tonight.
The fact that Stroud is such a closely contested marginal seat is fantastic for those who live in the area – it means that whoever is voted MP can never rest on their laurels and has to constantly work hard for constituents.
In safe seats it is easy for the MP to become complacent and be ‘Westminster’s MP in the constituency’, rather than ‘the constituency’s MP in Westminster’.
Whoever is voted in for Stroud will have to work hard to stand a chance of being re-elected in five years.
Unfortunately, for voters in Wotton-under-Edge and Kingswood it is almost a foregone conclusion that Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown will be re-elected as their Cotswold MP.
Don't get me wrong, Mr Clifton-Brown is a good MP, it's just a shame when any constituency becomes a 'safe seat'.