WILLIAM Hague became the latest Tory heavyweight to visit Thurrock and lend his support to candidate Jackie Doyle-Price.

The leader of the House of Commons joined the Jackie battle bus for its latest tour of the constituency, which has also welcomed the likes of Theresa May and party chairman Grant Shapps in the recent weeks.

Mr Hague, who will be standing down as an MP following next week’s election, told the Gazette Thurrock is one of the seats that will decide the outcome of the election.

Mr Hague said: “Jackie has done a fantastic job and I can say as leader of the House of Commons how hard she works for her constituents on all sorts of issues – improving local transport links, protecting the health service, speaking up for heard working people - so I can only pay tribute to what she’s done over the last five years.

“In the last five years here we have seen unemployment reduced by about half, more than 4,000 young people start an apprenticeship in Thurrock, there’s been a huge increase in jobs, and there’s money for road improvements.”

Ms Doyle-Price said she was feeling “energised” about the campaign with just ten days left to go until May 7.

She said: “We’ve got to win this fight. The reality is the Labour party thought all they needed to do was turn up and win this year, but they’ve got no chance.

“Clearly Ukip has proved to be quite an effective repository for people who want to make a protest but I would just reaffirm what William has said – we’re getting the economy on the right track and this not the right time to put it at risk.

“I would make the point to the people of Thurrock – do you really want the story of this general election to be that this community has elected a divisive party like Ukip? That’s not what we want for Thurrock. The future for Thurrock is positive; it’s not the kind of pessimism and misery that they keep spreading.

“I will continue to devote my energy and my enthusiasm to representing the people of Thurrock to the best of my abilities.”