VICTORY in Bolton is crucial to the Conservatives winning a majority government at the next election, David Cameron has claimed.

The Prime Minister was addressing Northern party leaders — including Bolton Tory chiefs — at the Midland Hotel in Manchester as s part of a tour of the North West.

He met with Bolton Conservative leader Cllr David Greenhalgh, deputy leader Cllr Andy Morgan, Astley Bridge councillor Hilary Fairclough, and Bradshaw councillor Mudasir Dean.

In 2010, Labour won Bolton West with a majority of only 92 votes after six recounts, and at the meeting Mr Cameron dismissed claims that his party “didn’t care about the North” and said success in the borough was vital.

He told party members that, in 2015, voters would face a “straight choice” between the Conservatives and Labour. But he was told by the Bolton contingent that some government policies and their effects on local government were proving unpopular.

Cllr Morgan said: “He said “people say the Conservatives don’t care about the North, but we do”, that the North was crucial to the country, and that we need to win Bolton seats if we’re going to win the next election.”

Cllr Morgan added: “He said the Government was making difficult decisions which were hard to sell on the doorstep but that by 2015 we’ll have got through this, the economy will be on the mend and people will give us that credit.

“He said that people will then have the straight choice between a party which is trying to mend the economy, or giving the keys back to the party which drove us into this ditch in the first place.”