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Labour leader Ed Miliband visits Rochester and Strood as Conservatives prepare to announce parliamentary candidate

Labour leader Ed Miliband has joined the political heavyweights heading for Kent ahead of the crucial Rochester and Strood by-election.

It comes as a poll released today revealed Ukip has a 13 point lead over the Conservatives in the fight for the constituency.

According to the ComRes poll commissioned by Ukip, 43% of voters are backing Ukip; 30% are backing the Conservatives and 21% Labour.

Ed Miliband visits Chatham
Ed Miliband visits Chatham

And two-thirds of voters believe the Conservative campaign of flooding the constituency with ministers looks "desperate."

Opposition leader Ed Miliband told an audience at the Nucleus Arts Centre in Chatham today that the party was in a tough fight - and it would be fighting for every vote.

Joined by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, he said he understood both sides of the immigration issue - the pressure they bring on services, and the positive contribution they made.

Speaking during a question and answer session, he said the country needed a system that was fair on immigration.

Yvette Cooper said Ukip would make it harder to deal with problems at Calais - where there had been flare-ups recently due to immigrants.

She said we needed to co-operate with our EU partners.

Naushabah Khan, Labour candidate for Rochester and Strood
Naushabah Khan, Labour candidate for Rochester and Strood

The session comes on the day voters find out who the Conservative candidate will be in the forthcoming by-election - nearly one month on since MP Mark Reckless defected.

The party has been holding a postal primary selection, in which all voters in the constituency have been invited to have a say.

The two candidates who will learn their fate later are Medway councillor Kelly Tolhurst and Sevenoaks councillor Anna Firth.

Both have spent the last few days trying to rally support in the constituency.

The Rochester Conservative Association will formally ratify the selection this evening - although the votes will be counted at Conservative Central Office this afternoon.

Meanwhile an independent campaign group 38 Degrees says local people are being shut out of the campaign because politicians are ignoring the local issues they care about most.

Conservative candidates for Rochester and Strood by election, Anna Firth and Kelly Tolhurst
Conservative candidates for Rochester and Strood by election, Anna Firth and Kelly Tolhurst

Members of the group who live in Rochester and Strood are to take to the streets to highlight their claim the media circus is “whitewashing over the issues people really care about.”

Tom DeHavas, a 38 Degrees member in Rochester and Strood, said:“Medway hospital is running well over capacity due to closures of other hospitals.

While managers on six figure pay watch doctors struggle with insufficient beds and nurses, doctors are forced to neglect their duty of care to meet irresponsible targets.”

“It is time for a change. It is time for an MP who understands what their responsibilities are and who stops trying to run our country on sound bites and spin.”

Our political editor Paul Francis will be reporting on today’s events - follow him on Twitter @PaulOnPolitics.

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