As Andrew Smith MP’s main opponent at the coming election – I was the candidate who in 2005 slashed his majority from over 10,000 to just 963, with the Tories and Greens a distant third and fourth – you wouldn’t expect me to agree with him about very much.

But I’m quite sure Mr Smith is right about the people of Oxford East “thinking long and hard” before casting their vote.

With their MP seeking to cover up Labour’s failure over the last 12 years with claims that Oxford has done pretty well out of them, they will no doubt be thinking hard about his support for the Iraq war and for the abolition of the 10p Income Tax rate; about the Labour government’s abject failure to provide any solution for Oxford’s housing crisis; and about the millions of people out of work in the wake of Labour’s mishandling of the economic crisis.

I’m confident that, having decided Labour has run out of time, ideas and second chances, they will then vote for the party best placed to remove Labour from power in Oxford: the Liberal Democrats.

Steve Goddard, Parliamentary Candidate, Oxford East Liberal Democrats