COLCHESTER could hold the key to the outcome of today’s general election, according to Chancellor George Osborne.

The top Tory returned to Colchester yesterday as part of a whistle-stop nationwide tour of businesses on the eve of the election.

On a visit to Asda’s Turner Rise superstore, he was joined by local candidate Will Quince, who is trying to overturn Lib Dem Sir Bob Russell’s 6,000 majority and win the seat.

Mr Osborne arrived at the store in an Asda Click and Collect van, then helped worker Tom Adkins load groceries into the van and spent time with packing staff in the supermarket warehouse.

He then went to speak exclusively to the Gazette, telling us Colchester was one of the 23 seats the party had targeted across the country in the hope of gaining the overall majority which eluded it in 2010.

He said: “People here need to realise Colchester is a key seat, which could decide the outcome of the election.

“I would say to voters, ‘you can have the best of both worlds, with a strong local MP in Will Quince, and at the same time, David Cameron in Downing Street’.

“People in Colchester have a really critical choice. I was speaking to Tom here, and he was saying his big dream was to own his own home in the town he grew up in.

“We want people to be able to do that.”

He also admitted he was not a frequent visitor to Asda, as his shopping was delivered through Ocado, which was “the only supermarket to have access to Downing Street”.

Mr Osborne also outlined his party’s plans for the East of England, promising a Conservative government would aim to create 250,000 jobs in the region, while making people better off by raising the tax-free personal allowance from £10,600 to £12,500.

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