The David v Goliath campaign was launched a month ago to support Labour candidates in marginal seats who are being heavily outspent by Tory opponents who have strong financial backing from Lord Ashcroft and from Tory HQ.

Nick Bent was declared the winner once the competition closed at Noon on Friday 30th April. In Warrington South (Tory Target Seat #74), Nick’s Tory opponent is a multi-millionaire and Nick estimates that the Tories are spending at least £150,000 on their campaign in Warrington South.

According to the Electoral Commission, the Tory candidate in Warrington South has already given over £80,000 from his own personal fortune to the local Conservative Association since 2007. The large Tory campaign office has paid staff, whereas the Labour office is tiny and the campaign relies entirely on volunteers.

Lord Ashcroft gave £5,000 to Warrington South Tories just a fortnight before the 2005 General Election – voters were not aware of it. Although Lord Ashcroft has not apparently given any money directly to Warrington South Conservative Association since 2005, Lord Ashcroft’s £4million donation to the Conservative Party has allowed Tory HQ to plaster Warrington South with Tory billboards and to bombard local voters with glossy mailshots from David Cameron.

Nick Bent plans to spend the £1,000 prize from Progress on a mailshot to first time voters in Warrington South and on campaign literature to persuade Labour supporters to get to the polling stations on Thursday.

Rt Hon David Miliband, who supported the competition, said: “I believe Nick Bent is an excellent candidate and will be a superb Labour MP for all the people of Warrington South. His energy and enthusiasm are more than a match for the money the Tories are throwing at this seat. People there are choosing the next Government, not just a new MP, and I believe they will stick with Labour.”

Nick Bent, Labour candidate in Warrington South, said: “This prize is a real boost both to me and to my dedicated team of volunteers in these final and crucial days. It will help us get our positive message out to thousands more voters in this very close race between Labour and the Tories here. I am confident that the strength of our volunteer effort here will keep the Tories out of Warrington South and out of Number Ten.”

 The winner will be announced here shortly.

Don’t think for one second we have forgotten about Ashcroft. We are still livid that a Billionaire who has non-domicile status has been allowed to dominate the political landscape of the UK.

Regardless of the result of the coming election, we need to do what we can to stop the influence of the wealthy few undermining the needs and values of the majority of voters. Ashcroft can never again be allowed to set the terms of debate in future elections.

Please sign David Miliband’s letter to William Hauge, pressuring him to answer these simple questions.

“1. Why did you say in my presence on March 4th that you learnt “a few months ago” that Lord Ashcroft was not paying tax on overseas earnings because of his non domiciled tax status, when in fact you admitted on March 19th on Any Questions that you knew this to be the case from 2000?

2. On the occasions when Lord Ashcroft has flown you, or others, around the world has he participated in meetings with foreign officials with you in countries where he has business interests?”

Click here to sign the letter

The Ashcroft effect has been felt all over the country, not least in Burton where we’ll be campaigning tomorrow with DvG candidate, Ruth Smeeth. If you’re in Burton, come down and join us, or just come down and say ‘hello’. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a glimpse of the ‘Tory car’. A car purchased by the Conservative PPC that’s branded with Tory logos and slogans. It’s impossible to miss!

Read more about Ruth’s Campaign Donate to Ruth’s Campaign

In DvG news, it is the final 24 hours of the campaign and its still all to play for. Donate to our candidates and they still might get that £1000 award.

Eddie “Brilliant Britain” Izzard with the Progress Team

Read More About Simon’s Campaign

Donate to Simon’s Campaign

The lovely people over at RateMyTory have decided to do a feature on the

The figures really debunk Cameron’s myth of ‘progressive conservatism’ and that the core of the party is, and will continue to be, the same old Tories. Click below to find out which are the biggest and baddest Goliaths.

Read about it here

 Read More About Bassam’s Campaign  Donate to Bassam’s Campaign

We are now relaunching the campaign with matchfunding of  £1000 for the candidate in the Tories’ top 100 target seats who receives the most donations before 30 April 2010. We are pleased to be working with number one Labour website LabourList and centre left group Compass on this campaign, and a kind donor whose eye was caught by David v Goliath’s original launch and wanted to help Labour candidates in marginal seats.

So get donating to help your chosen candidate get their message out!

We have profiled Labour candidates in the top Labour seats targeted by the Tories, or Labour seats which are now notionally Conservative following boundary changes. These are the seats which will determine the outcome of the next election.

£5 pays for leaflets for two streets, £50 pays for leaflets for 20 streets. This can make the crucial difference in getting our message across to voters. You can find the donation link at the end of each candidate’s story.

Follow us too on Facebook and Twitter and share the campaign with friends, encourage as many people as possible to log on and donate for the Davids!

You can also read more about Lord Ashcroft’s donations here.

The matchfunding winner will be determined on the basis of number of people donating to a candidate, beginning 14 – 30 April 2010.