William Hague: We can win in battleground Cannock Chase

Both Labour and the Conservatives have been desperately fighting to secure the constituency after the Tories won a shock victory in 2010 with the biggest swing of votes anywhere in the country.

Earlier this week a poll commissioned by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft showed Labour is on course to win the seat back. But Mr Hague, the former Foreign Secretary, claimed it was the Conservatives who would come out on top on May 7.

The former Conservative leader joined Tory candidate Amanda Milling knocking doors along Pebble Mill Drive yesterday.

He said: "I have been here in Cannock for less than an hour and a great majority of people I have spoken to have said they would be voting Conservative.

"It is always a hard-fought contest here but we have a great candidate and have had a good reception so we can feel confident.

"There are many others who have not yet decided how to vote and they will have to consider whether, from the end of next week, they want David Cameron as Prime Minister with a Conservative majority, or Ed Miliband and the Labour party, propped up by the Scottish Nationalists."

An Express & Star poll today revealed one in seven of our readers are still to make up their minds who to vote for with only six days until polling stations opening.

The Tories have thrown everything at Cannock to hold onto the seat, including visits from David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

Chancellor George Osborne visited engineering firm ATP and Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, who was born in Stafford, has also been to the town.

Mr Hague told residents they lived in one of the places that would determine the outcome of the election and he said people had not been put off from voting Conservative by Aidan Burley, who won the seat in 2010.

Mr Burley stood down after one term following heavy criticism over his attendance at a stag party, where the bridegroom wore a Nazi uniform.

Labour's candidate in Cannock Chase, Janos Toth, said the fight for Cannock Chase was too close to call.