Ed Miliband acknowledged a third crossing was 'a big issue' for Lowestoft, and said Labour prospective parliamentary candidate Bob Blizzard was the key to seeing it brought to life.

After being shown plans for a crossing and walking along the bascule bridge, Mr Miliband said: 'It's great to be here to support my great friend, he was a brilliant representative and he'll make a brilliant representative again.

'He's shown me it's a big issue, it's clearly a big issue for the town, he's going to campaign hard for it.'

The Labour leader stopped short of making any promises to the town though, insisting there was a strict process to be followed before any work would begin, starting with a funding bid to central government from Suffolk County Council.

Mr Miliband said: 'The bid has got to happen and then it's got to get the priority. I've now seen it for myself, if this can be made a regional priority we will want to give this every support.'

His visit comes on the heels of big investment pledges for the region from the government, which Mr Miliband quickly brushed off.

'The problem is the government is good at announcing infrastructure projects and not good at building them,' he said.

For the full story on Miliband's visit to the town, see this Friday's Lowestoft Journal.