Stephen Bates, Conservative Westminster candidate for Newcastle North spent time on the first day of his General Election campaign with his team talking with voters at Tesco Kingston Park in his Newcastle North constituency. Stephen Bates said "having had a very early and cold start to the day near the Metro it was great to get warmed up - physically and politically - with a coffee at Tesco; and to talk to so many people. As a fresh, modern, progressive and compassionate Conservative I believe we need a stable competent Conservative Government to enable our economy in the North East to continue to recover. And in that context, it was really encouraging to see such footfall in and around the shops in Kingston Park today as I talked with voters at the start of this crucial election for Britain."