Berwick stands between Lib Dems and Commons oblivion

"Ah, it's Mr Beith," says William Edes as Berwick's veteran Liberal Democrat MP strolls over to his back yard gate in Rothbury for a chat.

Few MPs achieve the instant recognition Sir Alan Beith enjoys across the 1,000 square miles of his vast but sparsely populated Berwick-upon-Tweed constituency. The third largest and most northerly in England, it embraces heather moorland and Holy Island, solid Northumbrian settlements, the quintessential border town of Berwick, picturesque castles and sandy beaches. Its population ranges from the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle to poorly paid agricultural and seasonal workers.

Since 1973, when Lord Lambton, the then local Tory MP, had to resign because of a sex scandal, Sir Alan has turned the 57-vote majority he won at the ensuing by-election into 42 unbroken years as a much-respected grassroots constituency MP.

Now, at 72, he is stepping down and the incumbency factor that helped his party here for decades is over. Sir Alan is one of 11 Lib Dem MPs leaving the Commons - including Sir Menzies Campbell, the former party leader, Sir Malcolm Bruce and David Heath - out of about 90 in the Commons as a whole.

Sir Alan is still highly visible on the doorsteps and in election literature, championing Julie Porksen, an agricultural economist, charity worker and first-time general election candidate. "I want to be a Liberal Democrat MP for the area I grew up in because I care about it," she says.

But after 42 years, Berwick now feels up for grabs. "Alan was like that comfortable armchair in the corner," says the Tory candidate Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a chartered accountant. She stood here in 2010, cutting Sir Alan's majority to under 3,000.

Now, she says, "because Beith isn't on the form any more, a lot of people are thinking about politics for the first time for a long time".

Door-knocking on the Newfields Estate, in walking distance of the Scottish border, Mrs Trevelyan meets Susan Eamens. "I used to always more or less support the Liberals, but I won't be doing that this time," says Mrs Eamens, a carer. "I think they have had more than their fair share of chances." She declines to say how she will vote. "My options are open," she says.

Nearby, David Simpson, a printer, and Jackie Russell, a bar manager, are walking their Border terrier Zoe. Mr Simpson is disillusioned with the main parties. "There's nobody there for ordinary people," he says.

Ms Russell, previously a Conservative, would like to vote SNP - a sentiment quite often voiced in Berwick, where voters look enviously at higher public spending just a few minutes' travel northwards. As there is no SNP candidate, she, like Mr Simpson, will vote for Ukip's Nigel Coghill-Marshall.

Access to better services - for healthcare, transport, broadband, education - are key issues in this rural constituency. But the biggest issue is the A1, supposedly a major trunk road yet, in parts of this constituency, little better than a country lane. The coalition government's recent pledge to spend £290m on partial A1 dualling has led both LibDem and Tory candidates - the two main contenders here - to claim credit.

The result has been a somewhat tetchy campaign. Even David Cameron has felt it: it was here, on a walkabout in Alnwick, that he was serenaded by a ukulele-playing busker who invited him to "f*** off back to Eton".

Among older people, loyalty may linger. "I've always been a Liberal," says Richard Hall, a 77-year-old paramedic. Young people's allegiances are less settled. Dan Beckham, 21, a plumbing and heating engineer drinking in Belford's Salmon Inn says: "If I voted for anybody it would be Conservative." His friend Ron McFarlane, 20, favours Ukip. Their mate Peter Hunter, 19, is not interested. The pub landlord David Henderson will vote for Labour's Scott Dickinson.

Roots matter here: all six candidates have strong local links. All, except the English Democrat Neil Humphrey, live in the constituency. Three of them - the LibDem, the Tory and the Greens' Rachael Roberts - are women. For Mrs Porksen and Mrs Trevelyan, both mothers of two with close family links to the local rural economy, this is a very personal contest, but it has much wider political significance too.

The Tories currently have two northeast seats, safe Hexham and highly marginal Stockton South. Berwick is their top northeast target to gain. If they cannot win it, a national seat majority is unlikely.

The Lib Dems also have two northeast seats at present but Redcar is very vulnerable. In this region, probably only Berwick stands between them and Commons oblivion. For Mrs Porksen and Sir Alan, the stakes could hardly be higher.

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