Candidates react to Jeremy Corbyn's visit as South Swindon contest gets underway

The leader of the opposition stopped off at the Central Community Centre, in the Railway Village, as part of a whistle-stop tour of marginal seats in Wales and the south west.

He was given a rapturous reception, but that was to be expected at a venue packed out with Labour Party members. Conscious that his opponents claim he is often short on policy detail, Mr Corbyn wasted no time in laying out a series of pledges.

Abolishing zero hours contracts, increasing the minimum wage to £10 an hour, reversing the closure of SureStart centres and scrapping plans for the return of grammar schools were all met with applause from the Labour faithful.

There were a few nods to Swindon - a reference to Honda and BMW and the importance of maintaining tariff free access to the single market, a mention of school standards and the importance of stemming the increase in classroom sizes.

On Brexit, Mr Corbyn said he had already made efforts to reach out to similarly minded parties across the continent and that he would look to secure a deal with the EU that prioritised workers’ rights and other hard-fought protections.

He said: “We’re a Party that reaches out to others and doesn’t close the door to other countries.”

The speech was well received and it took him almost as long to wade through the many selfie-seeking supporters as it did to deliver his speech. But this was a room of friends, a predictable crowd, it remains to be seen how his message will translate to the wider public. One veteran Labour councillor said he felt that success would depend on how fairly his party leader’s words were put across.

Des Moffatt (Lab, Rodbourne Cheney) said: “If you put their words alongside each other then he isn’t saying things that are a whole lot different to what Blair said. The difference is that this man actually means it.”

Mr Corbyn was introduced by former North Swindon candidate Mark Dempsey who lost out to Justin Tomlinson in 2015. Mr Dempsey looks increasingly likely to contest the seat again this year and said his leader’s words showed why Swindon needed Labour MPs again.

“Swindon shows very clearly why we need a Labour government,” he said. “The Tories have pushed our local hospital to breaking point and we’ve got 50 per cent of our secondary schools not reaching the required standard.

"We’ve seen them close our SureStart centres and cut our libraries and raise council tax by the back door.

“When Labour were in government we had schools being built, more doctors and more nurses, more teachers and a brand new hospital built.

“We saw real progress and a town that was on the up. Our town has been severely damaged by the Conservative government."

Another local Labour politician who has not yet ruled out putting himself forward to stand, this time in South Swindon, is Jim Robbins.

As the Labour group's leisure and culture spokesman, the Mannington and Western councillor has led his party's response to library closures over the past year.

After hearing from Jeremy Corbyn, Coun Robbins said: "I'm feeling really enthused, very positive, and looking forward to getting our positive local message out onto the doorstep in Swindon.

"He was talking about Honda, about BMW, people want to know what is going to happen to those employers. Are they going to continue being big job providers for us or is the Tory plan for Brexit going to mean that their access to the single market changes.

"Jeremy was also talking about SureStart centres - we're one of the two councils in the country that has already seen all of our centres go.

"In terms of schools and school places - certainly this week when people have been hearing where their chidren will be going to school - it's clear that parents are concerned about class sizes.

"We know that the funding for Swindon hasn't been fair over the years and that the plans that the Tories have come up with so far don't address the particular issues we have.

"We're really looking forward to the opportunity to put across those Labour values on the doorstep - when we do that we get a really strong response."

Whoever Labour decide to put up in South Swindon, they will face a tough challenge as they look to overcome a majority of 5,785 in a seat won by Conservative MP Robert Buckland in 2010 and 2015.

He was officially confirmed as the Conservative candidate on Friday afternoon.

Mr Buckland reacted to the visit by the Labour leader with a defiant message, comparing Mr Corbyn's leadership with that of Prime Minister Theresa May.

“The choice for Swindon residents at this election is clear,” he said.

“Either the strong, experienced and clear leadership of Theresa May or the division, incompetence and chaos of a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn propped up by Nicola Sturgeon.”

Joining him on the ballot will be the Green Party's Talis Kimberley-Fairbourn.

She is no stranger to General Election campaigning having contested the same South Swindon seat in 2015.

With the exception of the incumbent, Ms Kimberley-Fairbourn is the only candidate to have confirmed her intention to stand.

Setting out her view on the decision facing voters in June, she said: "Since coming to power, Theresa May and her Government have acted in the interests of the Conservative Party alone – to retain and increase power, but not to wield it for the good of the country.

"She has done immense damage to the UK, to its citizens, residents and visitors.

"This is not a government under which any of us can feel safe, whether healthy or sick, unemployed or employed, families or individuals.

"I have ideals – fairness, equality, inclusiveness, diversity, neighbourliness at the grassroots and on a national scale – and I want my government to start behaving as if it believed in these things too."

Swindon Liberal Democrats met earlier this week to discuss candidate selection and are expected to confirm who will be on the ballot in the coming days.

UKIP have not yet announced whether they intend to put up a candidate in South Swindon.