ON the eve of the General Election, the Prime Minister has said if Swindon wants to secure its economic future then people must vote Conservative.

David Cameron was in the region earlier this week and spoke to the Adver about what he sees as the key choice in the election.

The Labour Party has pushed the message that people in Swindon have been left behind by the recovery, with many still unemployed and foodbank usage on the increase.

However, the Conservative leader said it was important he was given the opportunity to finish the job his party has started.

He said: “The Labour Party rather reminds me of the arsonist turning up at the scene of the fire and blaming the firefighters for not putting it out fast enough.

“The reason there weren’t enough jobs in Swindon is because Labour crashed the economy. Since we took over, what you’ve seen in Swindon is a strong recovery and across the South West there are 144,000 more people in work and over 250,000 new people taking an apprenticeship, so the economy is mending.

“We are on the right track and shouldn’t put it all at risk with Labour and the SNP. In terms of helping people with their cost of living, the most important thing you can do is cut their taxes, whether it is council tax, fuel duty or allowing people to earn £10,600 before they start paying taxes.

“All those things help the cost of living while Labour’s plans to raise taxes would hurt the cost of living.”

Mr Cameron also said the South West was a key region in the election battle, with people facing a stark choice in who runs the country.

“The crucial thing about the South West at this election is that it could have the decisive say because there are so many tight contests here,” he said.

“They are contests to decide whether you lead with a Conservative-led government with me as PM or whether we turn left with Ed Miliband and the SNP.

“The election is so important because if you want to keep going with me as Prime Minister and a keep a team that is delivering the economic recovery you can’t risk your vote for another party.”

With only a few hours to go until the polls open, candidates are continuing to campaign to push their final message before the vote.

South Swindon Conservative candidate Robert Buckland said: “I am having wonderful support from people across the political divide. I think my strong record in service as the MP is a strong and I want to be able to carry on.

“We need a stable government that will carry on the hard work of building the economy that will pay for public services. Only the Conservatives can be trusted with the economy and the NHS.”