YOU know what you can do with your European single currency. We want to keep the £!

That's the overwhelming message from Bury shoppers, according to Tory election hopeful John Walsh.

He visited Bury Market on his latest Keep The £ mission and says that residents keep signing up to the cause.

"It's terribly important," he said. "The voters are telling us that they are not happy with Labour's position on this.

"People want to be in Europe but not run by Europe. They told us that in the last Euro elections in which the Conservatives did very well. They're saying it very clearly on the streets now, that the £ and our sovereignty are crucial and we are not going to give it up."

The campaign will heat up tomorrow (Saturday May 26) during National Keep The £ Day. Mr Walsh and supporters will visit Ramsbottom and Holcombe Brook in the morning, and be in Bury town centre around noon.

And this week's glorious sunshine is certainly keeping up Mr Walsh's spirits: he is reminded of the Tories' 1970 triumph. "It was sunny then, we were behind in the polls, yet we went on to victory. I'm delighted at the parallels with this campaign."

This week, students at Holy Cross College took advantage of the chance to grill the Bury North election hopefuls.

David Chaytor, Bryn Hackley and John Walsh all accepted the invitation to the college's traditional pre-election debate.

Questions ranged from electoral reform to Europe and compensation for small businesses suffering from the foot and mouth crisis.

In what might be an early pointer to the result, the students held their own mock election this week. And the winner was Labour.

Rather worryingly for the other parties, the Monster Raving Loony party came in second! The Tories came third, while the Lib Dems were pushed into fifth place behind the Communists.

Meanwhile, to improve local town centres was top of the agenda when the Liberal Democrats' Battlebus stormed into the borough.

At the helm were North West Euro MP Chris Davies and Lib Dem member of the House of Lords, Lord (David) Shutt of Greetland.

They were here to throw their support behind Bury South candidate Tim Pickstone and his Bury North counterpart Bryn Hackley.

Both the Parliamentarians and the parliamentary hopefuls spent the morning meeting shoppers in Prestwich precinct, where the Number One concern was worry about the future of the precinct and the closure of Sainsburys.

Mr Pickstone said: "Many people in Prestwich are deeply concerned about the closure of Sainsburys and what future Prestwich Precinct has without it.

"The recent investment plans from the Labour Council have just proved to be too little and too late.

"We need to do more to ensure that right across Bury South, in Radcliffe, Prestwich and Whitefield, that town centres get the investment they need for good local shops and services.

"I'm really pleased that Chris Davies MEP chose to stop off in Prestwich to support us on this issue. It shows how important the Lib Dem work in the area is to the party."

Holcombe Brook couple Gwynneth and Harry Moxon have a starring role in Labour's General Election manifesto.

A full-page spread featuring the pensioners with a local policewoman features in the section on crime.

The Moxons, of Kendal Road West, had enjoyed a photo session a few months back when the manifesto was being prepared, but had not expected to feature so prominently in the finished version.

Gwynneth is also mentioned by name in the summary version of the document. And now, a blown-up 30ft poster of her is part of the scenery at Tony Blair's election rallies.

Mrs Moxon says she and her husband have been Labour members for more than 30 years.

"It's been bliss the last four years knowing we have sensible Government in at last," she said.

Labour's manifesto promises an extra 6,000 police recruits to raise police numbers to their highest ever level. It also promises, over ten years, to halve the burglary rate and double the chance of persistent offenders being caught and punished.

Yesterday, (Thurs May 25) deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was the latest Labour "big gun" to visit Bury.