Prescott hits town

The John Prescott express rolled into Telford today - quite literally.

The former deputy prime minister arrived in Madeley shortly after 9am in his very own minibus adorned with the John Prescott Express logo and playing the Rocky theme tune as he tried to drum up support for Labour's candidate for the constituency David Wright.

And Mr Prescott said only the Labour Party could guarantee county regeneration.

He said: "The Tories can only give promises and this is about delivery. The X Factor- style debates have got the focus off policy.

"We have seen the cities and the towns grow considerably through regeneration.

"It's not just tarting up buildings, it's about building the future. The choice is about delivery or policies. We can put forward Madeley Academy as an example of that. We stood in 1997 and promised this kind of development and now we've delivered."

Mr Prescott, who is standing down at the upcoming General Election and will not contest the Hull East seat he has held since 1970, is the latest in a line of political heavyweights vying to swing the key Telford seat.

He added: "Being here in Telford today is about getting out in the marginals to remind people that we delivered in 1997.

"This is a very important election to us and Telford is very important to us."

Mr Wright said: "We've had massive investment in Madeley centre and we've got the Academy and if you look at this area of south Telford we must have put in in excess of £100 million so far into schemes running in this area. It's absolutely phenomenal investment."