Live election blog

Oh, how we'll tire of the words latest election news over the next four and a bit weeks! Although, as the Electoral Reform Society has pointed out 382 of the 650 seats being contested are safe. The people who live there might as well not bother. I think that includes me. Last time Bridget Prentice had a majority of 21%. Even with boundary changes, that's surely likely to be enough to get Labour back in.

So, on the whole I'm glad I'll be spending just over a week of the campaign out of the country. But I have - for the first time - a personal interest in two outcomes.

First, there's my friend and former colleague, Keith Nevols, who's standing for the Libdems in the parliamentary election for Sittingbourne and Sheppey. As I understand it, it's a close contest between Labour and Conservatives and Keith's likely to get squeezed out. But, if any of the good people of S & S happen to read this, I know that Keith is clever, hard-working and honest. That may over-qualify him for Parliament, but I can't see any reason why you wouldn't want to vote for him.

Second, my niece, Liz Matthews, is doing a Jill Swinburne and standing for the Greens in Trinity ward of Merton Council. Again, it's a longshot in a very Conservative area, but the Greens didn't have a candidate last time, and she might be just what they've been waiting for. Again, in the unlikely event that any Trinitarians read this, I can't think of a better person to vote for.