THE conservative parliamentary candidate for Thurrock has disputed claims that she is behind in the polls.

Jackie Doyle Price, who has served as MP in Thurrock for the past five years has questioned polling results by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft.

His research predicts candidate Tim Aker will win 35 percent of the vote, with Labour’s Polly Billington on 31 percent and Tory Jackie Doyle-Price on 30.

However Ms Doyle Price’s team released a statement on Sunday claiming she was actually ahead of both Labour and UKIP.

The team’s statement said that of the 1,000 Thurrock people who were polled, 226 said they would vote Conservative, 216 said UKIP and 205 Labour.

In terms of likelyhood to vote the team say 83% of Conservative supporters say they will definitely vote which compares to 78% of UKIP supporters and 71% of Labour voters.

Ms Doyle Price said: “The raw data for this poll actually shows me ahead and Labour in third. That broadly reflects what we are finding on doorsteps. I am confident we’re winning here in Thurrock. The public understand the very real risk of voting anything other than Conservative that will result in a Government led by Ed Miliband and the SNP.”

There are just 12 days to go until the general election.

Mr Aker’s campaign team have backed Lord Ashcroft’s poll.

Mr Aker said: “This latest poll shows yet again that Ukip is on course to make history in Thurrock. If you vote Ukip here, you will get a local Ukip MP here working for the whole community.”