PRITI Patel has thrown her support behind a late politician’s potential replacement after joining her on a campaigning tour of a Southend town.

The Home Secretary visited Old Leigh on Saturday to join forces with Conservative Party candidate Anna Firth.

Anna is currently looking to become the MP for Southend West, a seat currently vacant following the death of Sir David Amess who was killed on October 15.

Echo:

During her visit to the area Priti Patel and Anna Firth took time out of their campaign efforts to shoot a video in which they laid out plans to tackle crime in Southend.

“Making Southend’s streets safer is my number one campaign priority, and that is why it’s so fantastic to have the Home Secretary here in Old Leigh,” said Anna.

“The hundred new police officers coming to Essex, we want to get our fair share right here in Southend, particularly now we have just become a city.”

<<<< WATCH THE VIDEO HERE >>>>

During the clip Priti Patel backed the Tory candidate to deliver on her promise should she win the by-election being held on February 3.

She said: “Law and order on the streets of Essex is a number one priority we have here and Anna is campaigning for that with enthusiasm and great rigour.

Echo:

“It is important to say that clearly in Essex and across the whole country we’ve got more police officers on our streets and those numbers are going up.

“That means we can tackle serious, violent and organised crime and there are some great initiatives and we want to make sure we bring them to the streets of Southend.”