WITH just a week to go before the general election, all hands are on decks on the campaign trail.

And it is no different for Robert Largan, Conservative candidate for Bury South, who is hoping to oust the seat from Labour's Ivan Lewis, who has been the MP since 1997.

On Thursday he was visited by Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox who wanted to offer his support to the campaign.

They spent time visiting Polyflor Ltd - the flagship site of Radcliffe floor covering company James Halstead Plc- and took a tour of the plant.

The company has emerged as a major international group that manufactures many of the notable brands in commercial, contract and consumer flooring.

On the upcoming election, Mr Fox said now was a “key time” and one when the public start to really decide on who they are going to vote for if they have not done so already.

He said: “I am here to support Robert’s campaign today. Bury South is one of the seats that we hope to take in this election and hope will contribute to the new government.

“The choice will be between having a government that is committed to taking a strong line in our negotiations with Europe or a chaotic coalition of the Labour Party, the Scottish nationalists and the Liberals who want to rerun the whole referendum process.

“I think it is the most important choice in any election since I started to vote in the 1980s and I think that the benefits if we get the decision right are huge but the pitfalls if we get the election wrong could be catastrophic.”

Mr Fox was shown around the Polyflor site and said that he is always keen to see how some of the country’s leading companies were doing.

“Coming here was a good opportunity to talk about any export opportunities that they might have and in what help the government can give to aid them,” he said.

Mr Largan, from Whitefield, said that he has been campaigning hard for this election and that he thinks that it is time for a change in Bury South.

“I think that the people are getting fed up with Labour now,” he said.

“Lots of people are switching from them as many of them have generally had enough of being taken for granted for the last few years in this area.

“I am doing all I can and talking to as many people and knocking on as many doors as possible between now and polling day.

“What I would say to the voters who are trying to make up their mind is to just remember that 11 days after the election it is going to be the start of Brexit negotiations so keep in mind that we are choosing a government for the next five years and one which is going to have to lead these negotiations, probably the most complex thing that we have had to do since 1945 in this country.”

If elected, Mr Largan has pledged to make his top priority to regenerate Radcliffe town centre and to continue fighting to make sure a new high school opens.

“In Radcliffe, we need to end the years of neglect in the town and make sure that it gets its fair share of funding from both Bury Council and from the government.

“Radcliffe has got to be one of the biggest towns in the country without a high school and I want to see a free school opened here too.”

Mr Largan will compete with Ivan Lewis (Labour), Andrew Page (Liberal Democrats), Ian Henderson (UKIP) and Peter Wright (Independent) for the Bury South seat.