SUSSEX was a Bank Holiday battleground as Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, and George Osborne launched a final bid to sway the county’s voters.

With the General Election just days away, political heavyweights flocked to the county for a series of meet and greets and photo opportunities.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer spent Saturday in Eastbourne as he spelled out what the Conservatives would do within the first 100 days of a new government for the South Coast.

Meeting with prospective MP for Eastbourne Caroline Ansell, Mr Osborne promised the Tories would invest £2.4 billion in transport including funding for the A27 and freezing rail fare for five years.

He said: “There couldn’t be a clearer choice – people can either vote for the political instability and economic chaos of a weak Ed Miliband controlled by the Scottish Nationalists, which will mean jobs lost, incomes cut and projects cancelled on the South Coast, or people can choose David Cameron and the Conservatives, who will get straight back to work implementing this timetable for a stronger South Coast.”

Elsewhere on Saturday a resurgent Ed Miliband met with students at Sussex Coast College in Hastings as he predicted the “tightest election in a generation”.

The Labour leader campaigned with prospective MP for Hastings and Rye Sarah Owen and took several selfies with attending supporters.

Mr Miliband said: “On Thursday people in East Sussex, and right across the country, have a choice to decide who this country is run for – the richest and most powerful, or the working families of Britain.

“The outcome could come down to a few hundred votes in Hastings and Rye and across East Sussex.

“For Cameron this election is all about him. For me, it is about the working people of our country.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg spent Sunday afternoon with prospective MP for Lewes Norman Baker as the pair visited Paradise Park in Newhaven.

Mr Clegg posed with a gyr falcon named Shadow and chatted with shoppers and met the staff at the garden centre and popular day-trip spot. The Lib Dem leader said “visiting places like Paradise Park and meeting local people is what elections are all about” and praised Mr Baker as an “exceptional MP”.

Elsewhere in the county prospective MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas hosted a youth rally as the Green’s bio-battlebus arrived in the city along with Comedian Mark Steel.

On Saturday in Crawley prospective MP Henry Smith hosted Home Secretary Theresa May.

Blitzkreig of pledges

THE General Election is just days away so it is no surprise the political roadshow has hit the county with full force.

What is telling is that on the final weekend before voters hit the ballot boxes, the big-hitters of the three main parties made their final push in Sussex.

The county is full of marginal seats that could hinge on the smallest percentage of votes, prompting a series of reoccurring, slightly panic-stricken visits to the area.

The constituencies provide litmus tests for how the rest of the country could swing, with the outcome of Hastings and Rye sure to give a valuable insight into just how much a resurgent Labour has gained on the Conservatives. The Lib Dem stronghold of Lewes and more recently won Eastbourne will show just how much the third-placed party’s support has suffered in Coalition Government.

It is hard to disagree with Ed Miliband when he says this is “tightest election in a generation”.

What Sussex offers is an indicative and very key battleground for the political heavyweights to duke it out in.

Some of the biggest names in British politics are expected to show their faces in the county again today – proving just how important Sussex is in declaring which party will lead the county for the next five years.

With just three days to go, there is no sign of this political blitzkrieg letting up.