Tough to get a Labour local politician to speak in Swindon today. Not sure if it has anything to do with the botched visit of Ed Miliband, who clearly did not know the Labour group's leader name when he appeared on a BBC radio Wiltshire programme.

For the record he is Jim Grant, who was not answering his phones today. His deputy, Mark Dempsey, also seemed reluctant to speak. He did come to the phone but took a list of questions (what are the issues people are talking about, how's campaigning going, has Miliband's appearance hampered) and said he'd try to get back with the answers. Not holding out much hope.



Swindon is an important battleground for Labour and the Tories. The Tories are in power but have a majority of just one (Conservative: 29, Labour 23, Lib Dem 4, Independent 1). Privately Labour have been saying they think the Tories may well lose control but the council will probably be hung. The Tories reckon they can cling on to enough seats to continue to govern, perhaps with the help of the Lib Dems. Twenty seats are up for grabs tonight.



The Wiltshire town is also important because it is seen as one of those barometer places. The MPs tend to belong to the party of government.

Then there's the Ukip factor. Nigel Farage's party is fielding candidates in all 20 wards (more than the Lib Dems). Its local party secretary, Gary Belben, was happy to speak. He said that local people had been telling him on the doorstep they were fed up with the cabinet system – which marginalised backbench councillors and forced them to follow the party line. And concerns about immigration were frequently floated.

Ukip have no councillors here but Belben said they were hoping to do well especially in places where the Labour and Tories were neck and neck. “We think it could be a good night for us,” he said.