​The Conservative party has ploughed tens of thousands of pounds into winning votes in Cheltenham – after identifying the town as a must-win General Election seat.

With little more than two months to go until the expected poll date, large sums of cash have been injected to make sure they seize the marginal seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Sitting MP Martin Horwood won Cheltenham with a majority of 2,300 in 2005, but recent boundary changes mean the race could be as close as 300 this time around. Yesterday, it emerged the town is one of a number of marginal British constituencies where the local Conservatives have been given large sums of cash in a bid to get the Tories back into power.

According to The Independent, the town’s party was given £30,437 by Tory HQ as part of its overall spend of £146,965. The cash is said to have largely come from the party’s deputy chairman, Lord Ashcroft, between 2007 and 2008.

The Tories have spent £6 million over two years in seats they felt held the key to election victory. Cheltenham is one. Mark Coote, the Conservatives’ candidate for Cheltenham, said Lord Ashcroft has made it explicitly clear he expects him to win Cheltenham.

He remained confident.

“I think we will win,” he said in an interview with The Cheltonian, to be published this month.

“This is the best opportunity in Cheltenham in a political generation to take the seat back.

“If we don’t win Cheltenham, there’s not going to be a change of government at Westminster.”

Mr Coote said cash from Central Office was helping to fund the Tories’ campaigns in six Gloucestershire constituencies from a hub in Hucclecote.

But he said it would be “unfair” to say money had been aimed solely at Cheltenham.

He said: “We have centralised the operation and we all chip into that central pot. It certainly hasn’t been spent on front-line campaigning.”

Mr Coote said much of the donations were being used on administration costs, not campaigning.

He said: “The lion’s share is going into running the infrastructure for those of us in marginal seats. Whether it’s been £30,000 over three years, I can’t tell you.”

He stressed that most of the money being spent on his campaigning was being raised locally at events such as coffee mornings and dinners.

Mr Horwood said: “It’s been obvious for a long time that the Tories were ploughing a huge amount of money from outside Cheltenham into this seat.

“There was obviously a huge number of glossy leaflets that they were sending all over the town.

“Our private poll shows it’s not having the impact that you would expect.”

Cheltenham has been a Liberal Democrat seat since 1992, when Nigel Jones’ victory ended 28 years of Conservative power in the town.

Despite the MP’s claims, Mr Coote said he said he felt Mr Horwood would have had more money at his disposal – through being able to claim a £10,000 per year communication allowance.

Mr Coote said: “We work extremely hard to raise money locally.

“It’s an insult to the electorate to think they can be bought off or to think there’s some kind of underhand purchasing hand going on.”

Mr Coote also dismissed concerns in some quarters over the legitimacy of Lord Ashcroft’s donations. He said: “There’s a media obsession with the so-called secrecy of Lord Ashcroft’s lifestyle.”

Mr Horwood insisted he was confident he would hold on to his seat in Cheltenham.

He said he felt it would be a close-fought contest, but the Lib Dems were “still on track” to retain it.

He said: “In the end, I don’t think Cheltenham can be bought.”

He added: “I would be interested in knowing if the Tories intend to pay the money back if Lord Ashcroft’s tax status turns out to be incompatible with party political donations.”

Meanwhile a section of Cheltenham has hit out at boundary changes which mean they will be voting for the Tewkesbury seat at the forthcoming General Election.

Changes brought in by the Boundary Commission for England will see parts of Swindon Village, formerly in St Peter’s, move out of Cheltenham’s constituency and into Tewkesbury’s.

People living in the area, which encapsulates 1,076 homes off Tewkesbury Road and at the lower end of Wyman’s Brook, say the move is “ludicrous” as they are just minutes travel from Cheltenham town centre.

Some of them have threatened to withdraw from the voting process altogether when polling day arrives.

Anthony Knight, 79, who lives in Sun Street, said: “I’ve lived in Cheltenham all my life.

“To suddenly be voting for an MP in Tewkesbury seems ludicrous to me.

“My home is 10 minutes’ walk away from the centre of Cheltenham so what do I want with Tewkesbury issues?

“The things which are important to residents there are not necessarily the ones important to us. It makes a mockery of the whole system.”

Another resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “I might not even bother voting this time round.”

“Tewkesbury people should be voting for Tewkesbury issues, and Cheltenham people for Cheltenham issues. Why have it any other way?

Borough councillor Pat Thornton (LD, St Peter’s), said the move in boundary lines had let a section of residents down.

“It’s absolutely crazy,” she said.

“I’m disgusted with the changes and think it shows a total lack of consideration for the needs of the local community.”

“The area has traditionally voted Liberal Democrat so those votes will now be lost. How people will choose to vote now they are officially in Tewkesbury we can only wait and see.

The boundary changes will also see several other parts of the county switch constituencies, with part of Leckhampton, Up Hatherley and Warden Hill moving from Tewkesbury to Cheltenham.

In addition, Longlevens will move from Gloucester into the Tewkesbury borough.

Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood won his seat at the 2005 election with a majority of 2,300, but researchers Rawlings predicted the boundary changes would make the race a lot closer this time.

He said: “With parts to the south of Cheltenham moving into the constituency, it becomes more logical in a sense because they are much further away from Tewkesbury.

“But the part of Swindon Village which has been lost to Tewkesbury is something of a geographical anomaly.

“Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it.”

“Perhaps a solution in future would be to reform the electoral process to make constituencies larger, getting a more proportional voting system.

Laurence Robertson, Conservative MP for Tewkesbury, said: “I understand why residents of the area might be more aligned with Cheltenham and therefore feel a little aggrieved at voting for a different seat.

“But I am looking forward to working with those people and representing their views if I win a majority.”