THE constituency of Filton and Bradley Stoke is relatively young and therefore harder to call than many others across the UK.
In 2010, Jack Lopresti of the Conservatives took the seat with just over 40 per cent of the vote, earning 6,914 votes more than his Labour competitor Ian Boulton.
The fight for this area in 2015 has, much like in 2010, been a traditional battle between red and blue – though with former outsiders taking centre stage across the country, the results of this election are still anybody’s guess.
The Filton and Bradley Stoke seat was created by the Boundary Commission for the 2010 General Election. It was formed by taking parts of the Bristol North West, Kingswood and Northavon constituencies. It includes Almondsbury, Winterbourne, Pilning, Severn Beach and Frenchay.
Facing Mr Lopresti today are Mr Boulton of Labour, Peter Bruce of the Liberal Democrats, Ben Walker of Ukip and Diana Warner of the Green Party.
Mr Lopresti, who formerly served in Afghanistan with 29 Commando RA, says that if re-elected he will continue to ensure Filton and Bradley Stoke is at the heart of Britain’s defence industry, “delivering investment, manufacturing and hi-gh tech jobs”. He has also pledged to continue to protect the NHS and work to improve health provision.
Labour’s Mr Boulton iswill again try to topple the Conservative-held seat, using his close connections with the aerospace industry and his work to secure funding for the new Concorde museum as staples of his campaign.
The three remaining candidates are all pushing an agenda of change. Lib Dem Mr Bruce says we need to move towards a more collaborative type of politics and discard the “confrontational ping-pong of left and right”.
Ukip’s Mr Walker says the constituency “deserves better” than Mr Lopresti while the Green’s Mrs Warner says that with the support of the community “change for the better is a real possibility”.
The four candidates eyeing Mr Lopresti’s seat, however, will still have to beat the odds if they want to become the voice of Filton and Bradley Stoke in the House of Commons.