All go on the campaign trail

Another busy day in the Labour campaign for Liverpool

Writing leaflets, direct mail letters, folding and stuffing, delivering, door-knocking, taking photos, chasing up casework (and still having to go to select committee meetings too).

We have got all of Liam's election address out in Kensington and Fairfield and continue to garner great support everywhere we go. Apparently Frank Doran has been door-knocking in Fairfield and lamenting the fact that he is on his own and so can not do as much as Labour can, he cannot go to all the meetings. Poor chap. It must be awful being the only councillor representing your party in a ward, working hard to ensure that you go to everything, that you are informed about every issue, that you contribute to every consultation, that you listen to as many residents as you can, regularly, week in and week out, that you don't leave everything until the last minute. I cannot imagine what that must be like.

A couple of things are worthy of mention today

Government Minister Ivan Lewis (and an old friend from the two byelections in 1999 in the region where he worked like a trojan and was a real star motivating other MPs to come to Wigan and Eddisbury) launched the Government's Alzheimer's Strategy about 6 weeks ago. Today he was visiting Leighton Dene, an Alzheimer's Special Unit today with Councillors Roz Gladden, Labour Spokesperson on Health and Adult Social Care and her Deputy, Councillor Wendy Simon. You will recall this is the centre the LibDems have voted to close, claiming it is Labour Government policy that drives them to this terrible decision. He has made it clear today that is not the case.

He said most emphatically that it was a marvellous facility, a centre of excellence, and one that the Government would consider to be a national standard-bearer with very committed staff, providing a fantastic service. He was extremely impressed with it and said other parts of the country could learn a lot from it.

And the LibDems are shutting it down along with Boaler Street Rehab and Respite Centre!

I stopped counting the petition returns ages ago, but we must have topped 5000 by now. At least another 150 arrived today, as arrive every day. Many of them collected by carers of those who use the service.

I understand that Channel 4 were filming in Belle Vale with our candidate today, trying to find any evidence of a Tory revival - "Call me Dave" Cameron has been making much of their party's chances in the north. I wouldn't hold out much hope if I were you "Dave". Liverpool is still 100 years away from forgiving your lot for what they did to this city. And of course for the right and far-right voters, there are some candidates and councillors who would be very suitable repositories of their vote within factions of the Liberal-Democrat Party locally.

We were door-knocking in Liverpool tonight with The Times in tow too. Lots of evidence of switching, the LibDem vote is not soft any more, it is now crumbling. Actually, soft things don't crumble, they just squish and squash so that is a rubbish analogy. The LibDem vote is factured and riven with fault lines, causing cracking and splintering and falling away. There, that is better.

The writing is on the wall for this administration. More and more seats inexorably move from unlikely towards possible and others move from possible towards probable and finally, others move from probable to highly likely.