Day 3 - 14 April

Having breakfast in Oxford - at the Maison Blanc on the Woodstock Road which I used to frequent as a student 25 years ago - after a swing through marginal seats in Stourbridge, Dudley and Worcester yesterday which showed that this election is wide open.

Canvassing last night with Mike Foster in Worcester, there was no enthusiasm for the Tory 'DIY manifesto'; Worcester Woman, as much as Worcester Man, wants a government to get on with the tough decisions and reforms needed to get Britain out of recession.

As for Tory public services policy, 'I want a decent school for my child - not to be told to set one up myself if the local school is useless', was the verdict of one undecided voter. People rightly want a government that governs; not to be told that government is abandoning its responsibilities and leaving people on their own. The idea of a society which holds a bigger stake in decision making and the delivery of services is at the heart of New Labour thinking about a modern state that works in dynamic partnership with active citizens.  But it is not a replacement for government doing its essential job.

Lots of good transport news from the front. In Stourbridge, the innovative 'Parry People Mover' is providing a brilliant tram-style service on the branch line from Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town - a much more frequent service than when it was a conventional train, and far more energy efficient.  Labour candidate Lynda Waltho persuaded my predecessor to fund the scheme, and John Parry, the entrepreneur behind it, is an evangelist for its potential to expand rail access, economically, in other towns and cities.

In Worcester, Mike Foster is campaigning for a new Parkway station to get cars off the road and improve access to the lines to London, Bristol and Birmingham which pass just outside the city.  New parkway stations have been highly successful in Warwick, Thame and the East Midlands, and I would like to see more parkway stations at major road/rail interchanges set up over the next five years.

Campaigining with Andrew Smith in Oxford East this morning - where we will be discussing the plans for another new parkway station, at Water Eaton on the Oxford outskirts, as well as visiting the Oxford bus company to discuss green buses - then taking the train on to Gloucester, Stroud and Swindon before reaching London late tonight.