LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to win back a key seat at the next election during a visit to south Essex.

Mr Corbyn, speaking at a party rally in Thurrock, told followers he wanted to set out a “message of hope” for voters - and snatch back the constituency from Tory Jackie Doyle-Price.

It was the second visit to south Essex in four months for the leader of the opposition, after he held a rally in Pitsea in June, shortly before the General Election.

Mr Corbyn arrived in Thurrock at 10am on Saturday after being invited to the south Essex area by Thurrock Labour leader, Oliver Gerrish.

Speaking at a Labour rally in Grays, Mr Corbyn, said: “The General Election result was good but not quite good enough.

“To get a Labour government, we have to win here.

“We are campaigning in regions and nations across the UK, setting out our message of hope for the country.

“There is a sense of anger and despair that is there.

“With youngsters who have worked hard to get qualifications but can’t get jobs.

“With older people that want the security of decent social care but it’s not available.”

He added: “But it’s also about challenging this government.

“The message that I made in my campaign is that 2017 is the year that politics caught up with the great crash of 2008.”

Documenting his visit via Twitter, Mr Corbyn wrote in one Tweet: “Great to be out on the #LabourDoorstep in Thurrock where we fell short by just 345 votes in June.

“This is a seat we can, and will, win.”

Mr Corbyn went out around Grays, knocking on doors and meeting people around the town.

He also put pictures up of himself on Twitter meeting people who work within the Grays community.

Mr Corbyn met with people such as George Elcock, a Labour candidate for Thurrock council, and he also mentioned a young man who helps his mum run her stall on Grays High Street.

He claimed Thurrock is a marginal seat that he hopes he can win back from the Conservatives.

Thurrock was a Labour seat between 1992 and 2010 with Andrew McKinlay as the constituency’s MP.

In 2010, Mr McKinlay stood down as MP and Carl Morris took his place as the Labour candidate for Thurrock in that year’s election.

However, he did not win, losing out to Conservative candidate Jackie-Doyle Price by a very slim 92 votes . She is now the sitting MP.

Mrs Doyle-Price increased her majority by 536 in the 2015 election but then decreased it in this year’s election to a majority of 345 votes.

Essex is currently an all-blue county, with Conservative seats in every constituency.

Basildon used to have a Labour MP, when Angela Smith won a seat in Labour’s landslide 1997 election.

However, the constituency was split in two in 2010 and both constituencies - Basildon and Billericay, and South Basildon and East Thurrock - went to Conservative MPs and it has remained that way ever since.