THE fight for theYeovil constituency ramped up a notch this week as Conservative ‘big-wigs’ appeared in to Chard and Ilminster.

Marcus Fysh, Tory Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, was joined by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in Chard on Thursday before welcoming William Hague to press the flesh in Ilminster on Friday.

However, sitting Lib Dem MP David Laws insisted that voters will not be overly-impressed with such publicity stunts.

Mr Osborne met with apprentices at Chard’s Numatic factory during a visit aimed at publicising his party’s bid to create thousands of new apprenticeships.

Mr Osborne said: “I was invited down by Marcus Fysh who knows Numatic International is a great example of the kind of business we want to see in South Somerset and the UK and he wanted me to see it too.

“I have been really fascinated by what I have seen and it makes me really excited about the future of business here in the West Country.

Key to this is the Conservative’s continued investment in transport, roads and railways to help make business in the South West as competitive as it can be so we are not putting all our eggs in one basket with London.”

Mr Laws insisted he is taking nothing for granted ahead of the election, but is confident voters will see his team’s efforts on the ground.

He told The News: “I’m not sure voters are particularly impressed by having big-wig politicians fly in for an hour. They want to judge politicians over a period of time, their record and what they are promising to do.

“What works is our bottom-up approach, working locally and speaking to constituents, not the Conservative top down approach parachuting in money, leaflets and big-wigs.”

The Yeovil candidates for the upcoming election are: Marcus Fysh – Conservative Sheena King – Labour David Laws – Liberal Democrats Emily McIvor – Green Party Simon Smedley – UKIP