The will to win

ON the campaign trail . . . William Hague and Kashif Ali

ITHE time has come for Oldham to have a Conservative MP, according to Foreign Secretary William Hague during his visit to Saddleworth on Saturday.

The former Conservative party leader visited a bustling Uppermill to show support for candidate Kashif Ali ahead of Thursday’s by-election.

Mr Hague said: “You’ve got a Conservative candidate that was born here, still lives here.

“In a by-election, people are particularly interested in individual candidates.

“I’ve campaigned for a long time for the Conservatives to have more MPs in the North of England.

“We want the Conservative party to be represented in this part of England.”

Speaking to the Chronicle about Mr Ali’s chances of winning Thursday’s poll, he said: “It’s a three-horse race, you only have to look at the result of the last election to see that. Kashif has done really well and we can absolutely win.”

He added that the fact Prime Minister David Cameron had visited Oldham last Thursday, the first time a prime minister had taken part in a by-election campaign in more than a decade, showed the support within the party for Mr Ali. Mr Hague spoke to journalists after meeting supporters in Uppermill Square, and then set off to delivering campaign leaflets to near-by homes.

When asked about Oldham Council cuts, he said: “They will have to make economies — but why?

“Because we have been left with the most difficult financial situation of any government.”

He said Gordon Brown and the Labour party had created a huge budget deficit and the Conservatives would have to rescue the country from that position.

When talking about being part of a coalition Government facing a by-election, he said: “Its not a merger of two parties.

“It’s two parties working together in the national interest.

“Just because we are a coalition today doesn’t mean people should stop voting for the party.”

Mr Hague said the by-election was not a matter of having one less Labour MP but having the best MP possible.

Candidate Kashif Ali said: “It is absolutely fantastic having Mr Hague here, first the Prime Minister and now the Foreign Secretary.

“This is the last weekend push. We can get there.”