Shadow chancellor Ed Balls was in Stevenage this afternoon (Thursday), telling residents who voted in a Conservative MP at the last election to trust Labour at next week’s local elections.

The politician was in the town centre in his role as East of England Champion for the local elections along with Richard Hewitt, Labour MEP for the region and Labour town councillors.

“We had a bad general election last time,” Mr Balls said. “Not just in Stevenage but across the whole of the region. But things are changing. Talking to people in the town centre, a lot of people who voted Lib Dem as well as Conservative are concerned.

“There’s been the biggest fall in consumer confidence, businesses cannot hire another worker. Spending cuts are just so fast - if you go that fast you just make things worse.”

He added that Labour voters must turn out at the local elections on May 5, or risk losing seats to other parties.

“The danger would be if people who voted Labour don’t come out. If they decided to stay at home and not vote. We need them to come out and vote Labour.”