With the Oxford East General Election result looking to be on a knife edge, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg’s visit to Oxford Brookes University yesterday bolstered beliefs that student votes could prove decisive.

Boundary changes in Oxford suggest thousands of first-time voters will have a pivotal role in the key marginal seat, with the majority of Oxford colleges now included in the constituency.

And the potential importance of the student vote was underlined by Mr Clegg’s arrival in the city, a week after the Labour leader Gordon Brown.

The Lib Dem leader headed straight to Brookes, where he took part in an hour-long question-and-answer session with 400 young voters.

In an unashamed bid to target the student vote, he used the visit to highlight the Lib Dem pledge to phase out tuition fees over six years.

The added importance of the student vote in Oxford East results from the Boundary Commission’s decision to switch the city-centre wards of Carfax and Holywell into Oxford East.

These wards are home to 8,000 voters, including many colleges, adding to Oxford East’s already sizeable student population.

The Lib Dems will view the Carfax and Holywell wards as fertile ground as they hold three of the four wards on the city council.

The Boundary Commission’s decision to move the wards out of Oxford West & Abingdon could also have major implications for that constituency.

Liberal Democrat Dr Evan Harris, who holds that seat, recently claimed that the electoral boundary changes could hurt him.

Boundary Commission changes also mean that Yarnton and Begbroke are being moved into Oxford West & Abingdon from Witney, the seat being defended by Tory leader David Cameron.

But the consequences of the changes will be most felt in the Oxford East constituency, held by the former Labour Cabinet minister Andrew Smith by just 963 votes in 2005.

Mr Smith warned it would be a mistake for any party to assume they would win the student vote.

He said: “Students vote on a whole range of issues and there is a wide diversity of views. The student vote is very difficult to predict.

“I have seen different polls and some show us ahead of the Lib Dems. Most will vote for the first time at this General Election, so are open to arguments.”

It still remains to be seen how many students have registered to vote in the city, rather than at family homes elsewhere in the UK. But Oxford University Student Union vice-president for access and academic affairs Jonny Medland said that a significant number of students would vote in the city.

He said: “We have been encouraging people that if they are interested in making a difference and having a vote that counts to vote here in Oxford in this marginal seat.”

The changes were made as part of a countrywide parliamentary boundary review that was carried out from the late 1990s until 2004.

The aim of the review was to ensure constituencies contain an equal number of voters.