It was a firm and clear commitment – under the Conservatives, Prime Minister David Cameron said Lowestoft WILL get a third crossing by 2020.

Now the town asks...can you keep your promise?

On a visit to Lowestoft just ahead of the general election, Mr Cameron said the long awaited new bridge over Lake Lothing 'has got to be done in the next Parliament. It has gone on long enough'.

He added that: 'The electorate know what they're getting with the Conservatives.

'They get the A11, they get the A12, they will get a third crossing.'

But that pledge has been widely criticised by his opponents in Waveney, who say he made an opportunistic promise just a couple of weeks ahead of an election which the Conservatives say could be decided by just hundreds of votes in the constituency.

'This is a desperate ploy by a desperate politician,' said Labour parliamentary candidate Bob Blizzard. 'Making a promise like

that less than two weeks before an election is something few people will believe.'

UKIP parliamentary candidate Simon Tobin added: 'You can't just after all these years just suddenly get the Prime Minister to roll up and promise a crossing – it just doesn't wash with people on the ground.'

However in a follow-up visit to Lowestoft just days after the Prime Minister, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: 'It is a brave minister of any sort who undermines what he says.

'The target is 2020, and I am happy to meet that.'