Labour and Tories hit battleground county

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have both been in Northamptonshire this week

Senior Labour and Conservative politicians have visited a key battleground county in the space of two days as general election campaigning gathers pace.

On Monday, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves was in the Northamptonshire constituencies of Kettering and Wellingborough, the latter of which Labour won from the Conservatives in a by-election earlier this year.

The following day the Tories launched their manifesto at Silverstone, in South Northamptonshire.

Why did the country's two biggest parties choose the same county within days of each other?

'No no-go areas'

Rachel Reeves visited Northamptonshire saying Labour could win any of the seats in the county

Ms Reeves visited a supermarket and a shoe factory in Kettering, before heading to Wellingborough Town Cricket Club.

Earlier this year, Labour's Gen Kitchen won the Wellingborough seat, previously held by Peter Bone, overturning a majority of 18,540 from the Conservatives.

Kettering has been held by Conservative Philip Hollobone since May 2005 - and in 2019 he won a majority of more than 16,000.

Ms Reeves said: "There are now no no-go areas for Labour. We're fighting for votes in all parts of the country."

Rachel Reeves (centre) visited a Desborough shoe factory with her sister and fellow Labour MP Ellie Reeves

She said she had been speaking to residents about the cost of living.

"I spoke to one gentleman who, when he had to remortgage last year because he was coming off a fixed rate deal, found he was paying £300 more every single month on top of sharp increases in food prices and energy prices, so the cost of living crisis continues to bite," she said.

The shadow chancellor added that she felt "deep connections with Kettering".

"My dad grew up here and I used to spend lots of my holidays as a schoolchild in Kettering," she said.

'Economy turning a corner'

Rishi Sunak launched the Conservative manifesto at Silverstone on Tuesday

The Conservatives launched their manifesto at the home of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, on Tuesday.

Since it reformed in 2010, the constituency has been held by the Conservatives and Dame Andrea Leadsom, who is not standing in the general election.

Dame Andrea Leadsom said Silverstone was an "iconic" venue

Speaking at the launch, Dame Andrea said Silverstone was "a perfect example of the amazing inspirational creativity of so many people in the United Kingdom".

"The [British Grand Prix] is a global iconic event in a globally iconic venue and this is what the UK Is all about," she said.

Dame Andrea said the public needed "to believe that our best years lie ahead of us".

She said the economy was "turning a corner" and Mr Sunak was "absolutely determined to deliver" the manifesto promises.

Analysis, Laura Coffey, BBC political reporter, Northamptonshire

Here in Northamptonshire five out of seven constituencies are marginal seats.

It's no surprise that we've started to see big hitters from the parties campaigning here.

Northampton North, Northampton South and Corby and East Northamptonshire have regularly swung between the Tories and Labour.

Since Labour took Wellingborough in the by-election earlier this year the party is looking to hold that and has added Kettering to its target seats.

The Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Green Party are also all standing in all the county's seven seats.

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