Gordon Brown visits St Leonards: Click here for interview
The Prime Minister visited Hollington today to rally support for his party at the forthcoming General Election.
Fresh from his appearance on ITV last night, Gordon Brown came to town this afternoon - much to the surprise of Tesco shoppers in St Leonards.
While locals picked up their weekly shop, a media scrum of film crews and photographers followed the Prime Minister as he made his way round the store.
Mr Brown stopped to talk to locals, including one young boy who told the Prime Minister he had been out and about putting up posters in support of the Labour party.
And, after an hour spent talking to staff in the store's canteen, Mr Brown agreed to an exclusive interview with the Observer.
When asked why local people should vote to retain a Labour MP at the highly anticipated General Election, he said: "This town has received 500million in investment since 1997, for schemes like the new college and the railway station and we are determined to continue making this great area even better."
He also vowed to continue the government funding to 1066 Country dspite the much-publicised economic problems and said his party would resist the temptation to take money out of the economy too soon.
And, when asked about threat to the continued regeneration of the town posed by poor transport links, the Prime Minister said: "We have been very clear about the link road (A 100million stretch designed to reduce congestion along the seafront) and we are determined to start the initial work as soon as possible."
Mr Brown also moved to reassure rail campaigners, saying he was well aware of the mooted cuts to services between Hastings and the City and said his party would not allow the continued regeneration of the area to be threatened.
He said: "Our commitment to improving transport goes for the rail services as well."
And it was a similar message to local fishermen who have long argued that current EU quotas are strangling the life out of the fleet - which is the biggest of its type in Europe.
Mr Brown vowed to fight for a fairer share of the catch, saying: "We want to see the fishing industry get the very best deal and no other party can offer more than us."
For more on Mr Brown's visit, visit www.hastingsobserver.co.uk on Monday.
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Weather for Hastings
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
