Why did Rishi Sunak visit Sizewell on Suffolk coast?

And how will the national situation play out here in Suffolk and East Anglia more widely?

There really are some things that are quite clear. Labour is going to win this general election, probably with a large majority.

That is a fact that has been acknowledged by members of most other parties, including the Conservatives.

Why else would Grant Shapps, Michael Gove, and others be going around warning about an "elected dictatorship" and a Labour "Supermajority."

But over the last week we've had a series of new-style "MRP polls" which attempt to predict the winners in every constituency - and they really have set politicos like me into something of a lather.

MRP stands for Multi-level Regression and Post-stratification - and I haven't a clue what that market research gobbledegook means either!

What it seems to indicate is that the pollsters have spoken to a lot of people across the country and tried to work out from that what the votes are likely to be in each seat. 

Last time there was one of these that proved very accurate a few days before the election so now pollsters are running around saying how clever they are being this time.

But this week's MRP polls were all very different and when you drilled down to the actual seats they had no consistency whatsoever.

One poll by Savanta said the Tories would be left with between 56 and 73 seats - and every seat in Suffolk would return Labour MPs.

A YouGov poll said Labour would win Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Lowestoft while the rest would remain with the Tories.

And Ipsos reckoned Conservatives would hold only Suffolk Coastal while the Green Party would take Waveney Valley with Reform UK in second place.

A fourth poll by More in Common had better news for the Conservatives - they'd be left with 156 MPs, nearly half their number before the dissolution of Parliament!

I find some of these findings extremely difficult to believe - but I do think a result similar to that in 1997 is on the cards.

And that could be the reason behind Mr Sunak's visit to Sizewell.

It is a matter of record that in this election the Conservatives are fighting a defensive battle - their biggest names aren't visiting marginal seats to try to win new areas, or even shore up candidates with small majorities.

They have been out in what are usually seen as safe Tory seats - like Suffolk Coastal. So from that point of view the visit to Sizewell ticks all the boxes.

Of course the fact that it is also one of the most secure sites in the country must have helped when planning the visit!

What will voters in Suffolk Coastal make of the warm greeting between Mr Sunak and Dr Coffey? (Image: PA)

The visit gave Mr Sunak the chance to meet up again with old friend Therese Coffey, but I'm not really sure the sight of the two of them gushing over each will really set the pulses of the voters of Suffolk Coastal racing - at least not in the way he hopes!

But I still need a lot of convincing that the political colour of Suffolk constituencies is going to change out of all recognition. 

The Greens have fought a very energetic campaign in Waveney Valley but I do question the findings of IPSOS in suggesting that two thirds of the voters in this constituency are going to support parties on the extreme left and extreme right of the current UK political spectrum!

I remember David Ruffley scraping across the line by 368 votes in Bury St Edmunds in 1997 so I can see why people feel that seat is in play - but the other seats I suspect will be close (as they were 27 years ago) but wouldn't count on a big change.

But there's only 10 days to go until we find out what is happening!

The opinions expressed in this column are the personal views of Paul Geater and do not necessarily reflect views held by this newspaper, its sister publications or its owner and publisher Newsquest Media Group Ltd.