Rivals respond

Margaret Ferrier reckons Caroline Flint’s appearance in Rutherglen is proof Labour are“feeling the pressure”in the constituency.

And the SNP candidate warned it would not halt her party’s momentum with recent polls suggesting they could net over half of the popular vote in Scotland.

Ms Ferrier said:“Labour are really feeling the pressure in this constituency but wheeling in their big hitters for a 20minute visit will not halt the momentum that the SNP has been building up since the start of the year.

“With Labour signed up to Tory austerity plans the only party offering an alternative vision is the SNP. And it is a vision that Scots are responding to in ever greater numbers, women in particular.”

Conservative candidate Taylor Muir referred back to Ms Flint’s public falling out with Gordon Brown back in 2009, saying:“I think it is a bit rich for Caroline Flint to tell voters that we should re-elect a government which she resigned from in 2009. Following Labour’s disastrous result in the European elections as a direct result of them crashing the economy she decided to walk away.

“Yet now, six years on and with Labour arguing for the same high-tax, high-borrowing disaster as before, we are to support them. I think people can see through that.

“We have put the country on the path to a better future by balancing the books, investing in our NHS and creating two million new jobs. People can vote for that record next week or go back to the chaos which Caroline Flint walked away from.”

And Lib Dem candidate Tony Hughes said:“The polls show that the electorate have no wish to give Mr Cameron the majority he seeks.

“On the other hand, there is also no wish among the electorate at large to elect a Milliband-led majority Labour government. This would see the county lurching to the left, borrowing more than absolutely necessary and increasing the burden of debt which will need to be repaid by our children and their descendants.”