Thank you for a record Lib Dem vote

I would like to thank the people of Ealing Central & Acton for giving me 13,041 votes in yesterday's General Election.  I believe that this is the largest vote tally ever achieved by a Liberal Democrat in Ealing in a parliamentary election and I am humbled by this.

Unfortunately it was not enough to win the seat, but my campaigning on vital local issues like saving our local A&E units from closure, fighting overdevelopment in central Ealing and saving the heart of acton will continue nontheless.

Observer says vote Lib Dem in Ealing Central & Acton to keep Tories out

Following the endorsement by The Guardian and The Observer of the Liberal Democrats nationally, yesterday's Observer published it's "guide to Britain's key battleground seats," which says:

"When the Tories’ target list of 130 seats held by Labour was drawn up months ago, those requiring a swing of 5% and less were thought ‘in the bag’, and the ‘battleground seats’ needed between 5% and 9%. Now many could be ‘in play’ and vulnerable to a Lib Dem assault. We have identified two which on today’s standing of the parties would be expected to go to the Liberal Democrats - Ealing Central & Acton and Northampton North."

This is further evidence that I can win here in our constituency if everyone who does not want to see a Conservative victory here unites behind me.

The final sentence of the Observer's leader column gives a clear call to action:

"There is only one party on the ballot paper that, by its record in the old parliament, its manifesto for the new one and its leader's performance in the campaign, can claim to represent an agenda for radical, positive change in politics. That party is the Liberal Democrats. There is only one way clearly to endorse that message and that is to vote Liberal Democrat."

Save our A & E!

My stance on the threats to close our local Accident and Emergency units is straightforward. I completely oppose their closure and I have been campaigning on this issue since the week that the plans were originally leaked to the press.

I've recently seen a leaflet from my Conservative opponent about the threatened closure of the local A & E departments at Ealing Hospital and Central Middlesex Hospital. I welcome that she, like me, recognises that this is a key issue in Ealing Central & Acton. However, I read on to see that she says, "Of course in time, new patterns of patient care may be developed, but it would be extraordinarily misguided to close these A&E departments before new services have been developed and people get used to them."

I think that the people of Ealing and Acton need to be secure in the knowledge that if they get ill, there is somewhere nearby that they can go to or by taken to by ambulance. It needs to be local because of the state of near-gridlock on many of our local roads. We all know that rapidly covering long distances in West London is difficult - even in an ambulance on a blue light. Also, if they need to stay in hospital overnight local people want to be treated somewhere that relatives and friends can easily visit.

I don't want our vital local health facilities to be sacrificed on the altar of "new patterns of patient care". The reason I oppose A&E closures is because they are wrong; not merely because the timing is wrong. It is crazy to contemplate a situation in which a borough the size of Ealing would have no A&E facility in it or on its boundaries. I stand up wholeheartedly for local hospital services. Sadly, my Conservative opponent's position is less clear.

If you support my campaign, please join my 'Save Ealing Hospital and Central Middlesex Hospital A & E Units' Facebook group.

"The Lib-Dems would win ... Ealing Central & Acton" - Evening Standard Poll

Today's Evening Standard reports a local YouGov poll predicting that I am set to win Ealing Central & Acton.

Under the headline, "Cleggmania sweeps across London with Lib-Dems set to take seats from Labour" the Standard today reports that "if YouGov's figures are echoed in actual voting on May 6 then out will go Labour's Glenda Jackson at Hampstead & Kilburn and Emily Thornberry, defending Islington South. The Lib-Dems would win both constituencies, along with Labour-held Ealing Central & Acton."

This backs up what we are finding on the ground: that there is a great groundswell of support right across Ealing and Acton backing the Lib Dem policies of fairness and our campaigning on local issues like the threat to close Ealing Hospital A & E.

But to make this historic victory into a reality on May 6th, we need more volunteers delivering more leaflets and knocking on doors and more people display posters to show to voters throughout the constituency - including those areas that have not been as strong for the Lib Dems in the past - that this time there can be change that works for the people of Ealing and Acton. If you can help me win, you can email me directly on jon@ealinglibdems.org.uk, call my campaign office on 020 8752 1247 or DM me on twitter @jonball.

Making the surge to Nick work locally

Last nght's canvassing was fantastic. So many people said they'd seen Nick's performance on the debate and were going to vote for me because of it. They love our message of tax fairness and they agree with Nick!

On the opinion poll ratings we are now achieving, Ealing Central and Acton is one of the seats that is coloured gold on the swingomoter display behind Jeremy Vine's flailing arms. What we need to do to make that a reality is to get our message across to all those local people who didn't watch the debate. And that means continuing to deliver the message through local doors.

If you can help, please get in touch. The weather is lovely today for delivering leaflets. The current national surge to the Liberal Democrats represents a historic opportunity for us here in Ealing and Acton.  Let's seize it.