The man who is arguably the most powerful Labour politician in the UK came to Swindon to visit party activists ahead of the local elections.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the former boss of Heidi Alexander, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for South Swindon, accepted her invitation to visit the Al Habib Islamic Centre on Chapel Street and go on to a fundraising dinner for the local Labour Party, at The Platform on Faringdon Road.

Mr Khan, who was elected as the Mayor of the capital in 2016 said: “I was absolutely delighted to come to Swindon to support my friend and former colleague, Heidi Alexander and to fire the starting gun on the local election campaign for May.

“The road to a Labour government runs through towns like Swindon and winning the council in May would be an important first step on that journey. It was great to catch up with Heidi and to meet with Will Stone - our candidate in North Swindon - and to hear about the strong community support that exists for Labour’s plans to build a better Swindon.”

Ms Alexander said: “Having worked with Sadiq through some really tough times in City Hall, it was great to be able to catch up with him in Swindon.

"Lots of people say ‘it doesn’t matter who you vote for, nothing ever changes’.

"In a week when Sadiq introduced free school meals for children in London, it was a reminder of the very real, positive difference Labour makes when we are in power.”

Mr Khan also visited the Al Habib Islamic Centre and met with men and women from Swindon’s Muslim community.

Former Mayor of Swindon, Junab Ali, who will be standing for re-election to the council as a candidate for Shaw come May, said: “It was such an honour for our community to host a visit from Sadiq Khan.

"We are very proud of his journey from a council estate in south London to being Mayor of one the greatest cities in the world. He gave an inspirational speech - and his jokes weren’t too bad either.”

For the first time, everyone who wants to vote at a polling station will need to provide an acceptable form of photo identification. For those without a passport, driving licence or other acceptable ID: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id a voter authority certificate will be provided free of charge on application.

Postal voters do not have to provide any form of identification.

The deadline to register to vote in Monday April 17 and to apply for a VAC is Tuesday April 25.