The Devizes hustings were held recently at St John the Baptist's church around the corner from where we live. This is a magnificent edifice built in 1130, and has been recently restored after a fire. There were about 200 people gathered to hear the seven candidates, and the proceedings began on the dot, unlike political functions in our part of the world where the audience is required to wait for hours. The Labour Party candidate is Junab Ali, and I was intrigued enough by the name to walk over to the Labour Party office and ask for an appointment. Not surprisingly, the candidate was not there, but did have the courtesy to call me within an hour. He agreed to drop in and see me before the hustings, and arrived punctually.

Junab Ali's story is what many immigrants dream about after migrating from Bangladesh at age four, he established himself in business after acquiring professional training in electronics. He now has a restaurant and a shop selling electrical equipment. Four years ago, he joined Labour and was elected a councillor in nearby Swindon. In his late thirties, he is a successful, well-integrated man who has made a good life for himself and his family. Despite a lifetime in England, he retains his Muslim and Bangladeshi values.

His selection as a candidate requires some understanding of Devizes politics, given his relatively recent entry into the Labour Part. Although Labour has a number of candidates from ethnic minorities, they have generally been active in their local party organisation for some time. But to be brutally honest, Junab Ali has absolutely no chance of getting elected in Devizes since this is as safe a Conservative seat as it is possible to get, with the party having retained it these last 85 years. It would take a major political earthquake to unseat the Tories, or an outstanding Labour candidate.

Unfortunately, Junab Ali is not such a candidate. His inexperience was exposed during the hustings where he was forced into the uncomfortable position of defending a deeply unpopular party, and an even more disliked prime minister. Voters in Devizes feel deeply aggrieved by cuts in public spending a popular bus service has just been terminated, and the National Health Service has shut down the local hospital, forcing patients to drive 40 minutes to Swindon for medical care. Add growing unemployment caused by the recession, and you can see why any Labour candidate would have a hard time. Finally, Junab Ali's resources are limited, and he has struggled for name recognition. As he explained, party funding is only available for candidates fighting in marginal constituencies where they have a reasonable chance of winning.

To add to his woes, he was pitted against a formidable Conservative rival in Claire Perry. Articulate and well prepared, she struck an immediate chord with a Devizes audience used to voting for the Tories, and sharing their rural, socially conservative values. Ms Perry has an impressive background with a degree from Oxford and an MBA from Harvard. Apart from a career in the financial sector, she has worked as an adviser to George Osborne, the shadow chancellor. Should the Conservative Party form the next government, she could well find a place in the cabinet. In her attack against Labour economic policies that she blamed for Britain's current fiscal crisis, she informed us that each citizen was indebted to the tune of 23,000 pounds, thanks to the huge budget deficit caused by Brown's profligate ways with the public exchequer.

In and around Devizes, the Liberal Democrat surge does not seem to have manifested itself to any great extent. While Fiona Hornby, the Lib Dem candidate, spoke earnestly and plausibly, she did not generate the kind of applause her Conservative rival did. Nationally, however, her party continues to confound pundits and the mainstream parties by its refusal to subside to its normal third spot at around 20 per cent support among the electorate. After the two debates that Nick Clegg won fairly convincingly, the Lib Dems are firmly at 30-32 per cent, narrowly second after the Tories, with Labour trailing in third position.

All the signs now point towards a hung parliament. The Tories are struggling to convince voters that such an outcome would spell disaster for Britain, but most people do not see this as such an awful thing. Indeed, the majority seem to welcome the prospect of forcing the political parties to work together. Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, has been hammering away at the electoral anomaly that could net Labour the highest number of seats even if it came in third in the national poll. He has declared his willingness to work with either Labour or the Conservatives if they support his proposals for electoral reforms leading to proportional representation. Thus far, this has been anathema to the Tories. And even though Labour had promised to reform the system in 1997, the ruling party has done little to live up to its pledge. Recently, Clegg announced that he could cooperate with Labour, but without Brown. This has incensed Labour leaders who accuse Clegg of presuming to choose their party chief.

There were many observers and mainstream party strategists who had forecast a quick pricking of the Lib Dem balloon that had swollen after Clegg's stunning performance after the first debate. However, they now concede that there is something deeper at work. Younger voters in particular had been switched off by the predictable nature of the British politics, with Labour and the Conservatives taking turns at ruling. Suddenly, they see a choice, and are seizing it. The rise of the social networking phenomenon is another factor driving the Lib Dem surge as the Twitter/Facebook generation exchange instant opinions and forge a consensus in a way that would not have been imaginable even two years ago.

But I am encouraged by the emergence of immigrant communities in British politics. Hopefully, this will defuse the kind of racism bile being spread by right-wing parties like the British National Party.