LONG-STANDING MP Roger Gale had a clear message for voters when he was unanimously re-adopted as the Tory candidate to represent North Thanet at the next election.

Speaking at the local party’s annual meeting, Mr Gale said: "The responsibility for the future of our country will lie in our Conservative hands

"We are the future. Once again, as in 1979, the Conservative Party will have to answer the call, undo the damage, restore faith and trust and confidence in our nation and in our Houses of Parliament and again build the kind of nation in which our people want to live.

"People's aspirations remain the same. Families, young and mature, want security of home and job.

"They want to have a comfortable roof over their heads, they want good and swift access to healthcare for themselves and their children.

"They want a choice of high-quality education. They want to know that the streets are safe. They want our environment - our countryside - protected. They want dignity and tranquillity in their later years.

"They want our place in the world to be respected and perhaps above all, they want the right to realise their dreams through their own hard work and their thrift and to pass on the fruits of their endeavours to those who follow them."

He added: "Those are all of the desires that Margaret Thatcher confronted when she formed her first government in 1979 and they are as relevant today as they were then."