Listed below are the notable parliamentary contests that we can look forward to in the 2017 general election:
England
Conservatives:
Returning:
Richmond Park – Zac Goldsmith, who lost this seat in a by-election he triggered in opposition to the government’s stance on building a third runway at Heathrow, has rejoined the fold to try and win it back. Lib Dem Sarah Olney took the seat from Goldsmith with a majority of 1,872 votes last December.
Tatton – Esther McVey, formerly MP for Wirral West and Minister for the Disabled, has won selection for the seat that is being vacated by George Osborne. McVey is likely to be returned comfortably, with Osborne achieving an 18,000 majority over his nearest rival in 2015.
Grantham & Stamford – Nick Boles, who has been recovering from cancer treatment, has announced that his cancer ‘has been eradicated’ and that he will be standing for re-election.
Brentford & Isleworth – Former MP Mary Macleod has been selected for a rematch against Labour’s Ruth Cadbury, to whom she lost in 2015 by only 465 votes.
Enfield North – Nick de Bois will be back to challenge Labour’s Joan Ryan for the fifth time. Ryan’s majority in 2015 was only 1,086 votes.
Ilford North – Lee Scott, who held this seat for 10 years, has been selected to try and take it back from Labour’s Wes Streeting. Streeting’s majority over Scott is just 459 votes.
Lancaster & Fleetwood – Eric Ollerenshaw is returning to contest the seat he lost to Corbyn supporter Cat Smith in 2015 by just 1,265 votes.
Wolverhampton South West – Paul Uppal is reselected in the seat he held from 2010 to 2015. Incumbent Rob Marris is not standing again, and his majority over Uppal was only 401 votes.
Wakefield – Anthony Calvert, the candidate who has nearly made it into Parliament twice – once notably standing against Ed Balls – is returning for a third attempt. Mary Creagh’s majority is only 2,613.
Clacton – Giles Watling, the former Bread actor, is trying to make it third time lucky in this seat – the major difference this time being that Douglas Carswell is no longer in the race. Carswell’s majority in 2015 was just 3,437 over Watling.
Running:
Saffron Walden – Kemi Badenoch, once Head of Digital at the Spectator, has been selected as the Conservative candidate in Saffron Walden, where outgoing Conservative Sir Alan Haselhurst’s majority in 2015 was almost 25,000 votes. In doing so, Badenoch fended off competition from Stephen Parkinson, one of Theresa May’s special advisers.
Chelmsford – Vicky Ford MEP has been chosen for this safe seat following the retirement of Simon Burns.
Brentwood & Ongar – Alex Burghart, the lead adviser on social justice in Theresa May’s Policy Unit, has been selected for Eric Pickles’ old seat, where he should be returned without too much trouble.
Birmingham Edgbaston – Caroline Squire, a great great grand daughter of Joseph Chamberlain, has been selected in the seat being vacated by Gisela Stuart. The seat was also once represented by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Squire’s great great half-uncle. Stuart’s 2015 majority was 2,706.
Hornchurch & Upminster – Councillor Julia Dockerill looks set to become the new MP for this seat after Dame Angela Watkinson announced her retirement. Dockerill has made the news in the past for accidentally revealing briefing notes that revealed the government’s policy towards the EU was ‘to have cake and eat it’. Watkinson managed a majority of over 13,000 votes in 2015.
Northampton South – Andrew Lewer MEP has been selected to replace David Mackintosh.
Shortlists:
Aldershot – Conservative Home has reported that there may be a ‘revolt’ in the Aldershot constituency association, which reportedly wished to select MEP Daniel Hannan as their candidate, only to be told from on high that they could not do so. The row is unlikely to end there.
CCHQ has also faced anger from constituency parties in Don Valley and Walsall South where the Conservative high command has ‘parachuted’ its preferred candidates into winnable seats over and above local talent.
Deselections:
Filton & Bradley Stoke – Jack Lopresti has fought off calls to deselect him and claimed that he has been facing a ‘vicious smear campaign’ that was an attempt to ‘destroy his character and reputation’. Members of his local association did not take kindly to the news of Lopresti’s affair with fellow Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns, to whom he is now engaged after leaving his wife Lucy. The new couple have a son who was born in March.
Standing Down:
Northampton South – David Mackintosh is standing down after his involvement in a scandal where public money was lent to redevelop Northampton Town’s football stadium and over £10 million has gone missing. Mackintosh had intended to continue with his election campaign, but his constituency association signalled that they would deselect him if he did.
Isle of Wight – Andrew Turner is also standing down after he visited a local college and said that he would not attend the island’s first Gay Pride event because he believed that homosexuality is ‘wrong’ and ‘dangerous to society’.
Aldershot – Sir Gerald Howarth
Brentwood & Ongar – Sir Eric Pickles, former Communities & Local Government Secretary
Chichester – Andrew Tyrie, Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee
Harborough – Sir Edward Garnier, former Solicitor General
Hitchin & Harpenden – Peter Lilley
Hornchurch & Upminster – Dame Angela Watkinson
Redditch – Karen Lumley
Saffron Walden – Sir Alan Haselhurt, after 40 years in the House of Commons
Tatton – George Osborne
Labour:
Labour has now announced its full list of candidates standing at the 2017 election. At 41%, there are more female candidates standing for Labour at this election than ever before in the party’s history.
Returning:
Bolton West – Julie Hilling, the MP here from 2010 to 2015 is to refight the seat taken from her by Conservative Chris Green, who currently has a majority of only 801.
Rochdale – Tony Lloyd, former MP for Manchester Central and interim mayor of the Greater Manchester region until Andy Burnham took office, will be facing competition here from Simon Danczuk, who is now running as an independent.
Vauxhall – Roger Casale, once an MP for Wimbledon, and later an MEP, has resigned from the Labour party in protest in order to try and take down Brexit supporting Labour candidate Kate Hoey.
Running:
Liverpool Walton – Dan Carden, an aide to leader of the Unite union Len McCluskey, has been selected in this seat now that Steve Rotheram has won the mayoralty of the Liverpool City region. He was competing against Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson and Dan Hughes, a one time aide to Angela Eagle.
Manchester Gorton – Afzal Khan MEP is still standing in this by-election triggered by the death of Sir Gerald Kaufman, which has been postponed to coincide with the general election.
Derby North – Vocal Corbyn supporter Chris Williamson has been reselected as the Labour candidate in Derby North, which he lost to the Conservative’s Amanda Solloway by just 42 votes in 2015. Williamson has courted controversy in the past by refusing to remove the letters ‘MP’ from his Twitter handle after his defeat.
Oxford East – Anneliese Dodds MEP has been selected to defend Andrew Smith’s seat which he has held since 1987.
Hull West & Hessle – Emma Hardy has been selected to succeed Alan Johnson as the party’s candidate here, facing down competition from high profile Corbynista Sam Tarry and David Prescott, son of the Labour grandee John Prescott.
Lewisham West and Penge – Ellie Reeves, Vice Chair of the London Labour Party is the party’s candidate after Jim Dowd decided to stand down. She is also the sister of Rachel Reeves and wife of John Cryer MP.
Leigh – Councillor Jo Platt, who has received strong backing from outgoing MP Andy Burnham, has been selected for Leigh, beating competition from Katy Clark, political secretary to Jeremy Corbyn.
Barnsley East – Steph Peacock, Birmingham and West Midlands regional officer for the GMB union and once intimately associated with Tom Watson is selected in Michael Dugher’s old seat.
And for the avoidance of doubt, Ed Balls is not returning to try and win back Morley & Outwood.
Deselected:
Rochdale – Controversial MP Simon Danczuk has been ‘banned’ from standing as a Labour candidate in the general election. Danczuk, who had continued to sit as an independent MP, was suspended by the party following allegations that he had sent sexually explicit messages to a 17 year old. Danczuk has responded by saying that he will be taking legal action, and he will be standing as an independent MP against Tony Lloyd.
Old Bexley & Sidcup – Labour sacked its original candidate here for ‘calling for the eradication of Islam’ on Twitter. Trevor Merralls, a taxi driver and campaigner, claimed that he is the victim of ‘a vicious smear campaign’ and that he may still stand as an independent. He has been replaced by Danny Hackett.
Standing Down:
Barnsley East – Michael Dugher (Dugher has since become the chief executive of UK Music)
Birmingham Edgbaston – Gisela Stuart, high profile Vote Leave campaigner Blaydon – Dave Anderson
Durham North West – Pat Glass
Hull West & Hessle – Alan Johnson, former Home Secretary and Shadow Chancellor
Hartlepool – Iain Wright
Lewisham West & Penge – Jim Dowd
Leigh – Andy Burnham, who has since become the mayor of the Greater Manchester region
Liverpool Walton – Steve Rotheram, who has since become the mayor of the Liverpool City region
Middlesbrough South & Cleveland East – Tom Blenkinsop
Nottingham North – Graham Allen
Oxford East – Andrew Smith
Slough – Fiona Mactaggart
Wolverhampton South West – Rob Marris
Liberal Democrats:
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has said that while he will not make any pacts with other political parties on a national level, he is ‘relaxed’ about local constituency parties opting not to field candidates in the hope of denying the Conservatives extra seats. In Brighton Pavilion, local Lib Dems have already chosen not to stand against the Green party leader Caroline Lucas.
Standing Again:
Twickenham – Former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable is hoping to making a comeback in the seat he first won in 1997 and one which voted strongly to Remain in the European Union last year. The sitting MP, Conservative Tania Mathias has a majority of 2,017.
Kingston & Surbiton – Sir Ed Davey, also first elected in 1997 and an Energy and Climate Change Secretary under the coalition, seeks to overturn James Berry’s majority of 2,834 in another strongly pro-Remain seat.
Bermondsey & Old Southwark – Sir Simon Hughes, who first won the seat in a by-election in 1982, is hoping to remove vocal Corbyn critic Neil Coyle, who took the seat for Labour in 2015 and has a majority of 4,489.
Burnley – Gordon Birtwistle, the man who took Burnley from Labour for the first time in 80 years in 2010, will be back to challenge incumbent Labour MP Julie Cooper (Majority: 3,244).
Birmingham Yardley – John Hemming has been reselected to challenge Jess Phillips (Majority: 6,595)
Cambridge – Dr Julian Huppert is re-contesting this seat, which he only lost by a handful of votes to Labour’s Daniel Zeichner in 2015 (Majority: 599)
Cheadle – Mark Hunter, who famously retained Cheadle in a by-election in 2005, is attempting to oust Conservative Mary Robinson (Majority: 6,453).
Cheltenham – Martin Horwood, who lost to Alex Chalk in 2015, is back to fight Cheltenham, a solid pro-Remain seat, for a fifth time (Majority: 6,516)
Colchester – Sir Bob Russell is returning to try and wrest this seat back from Conservative Will Quince (Majority: 5,575).
Cornwall North – Dan Rogerson will rematch against Scott Mann (Majority: 6,621)
Devon North – Nick Harvey, who first won the seat from the Conservatives in 1992, is hoping to achieve the same feat again against Peter Heaton Jones (Majority: 6,936)
Eastleigh: By-election winner Mike Thornton, who retained this seat for the Lib Dems in 2013 while they were mired in scandal, will rematch against Conservative Mims Davies (Majority: 9,147)
Manchester Withington – Councillor John Leech returns to try and win back this seat from Labour’s Jeff Smith (Majority: 14,873)
Wells – Tessa Munt, the formidable campaigner who has been contesting this seat since 2005, will be hoping to turf out Conservative James Heappey in the same way she did with his predecessor David Heathcoat-Amory in 2010 (Heappey’s majority: 7,585)
Running:
Hayes & Harlington – Bill Newton Dunn, former MEP and father of Sun journalist Tom Newton Dunn is contesting this seat against Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.
Somerset North – Sir Graham Watson, former MEP for the South West of England will be standing against the International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.
Deselected:
Bradford South – After much embarrassment, leader Tim Farron stepped in to personally veto David Ward’s candidacy here. MP from 2010 to 2015, Farron said that Ward was ‘unfit to represent the party’ due to his anti-Semitic views. Ward has confirmed he will be standing as an independent.
Buckingham – There were reports that the Lib Dems would break with convention by putting up a candidate against the Speaker. Sarah Lowes was expected to take on John Bercow, but it has since been announced that the party will abide by convention and that she will no longer do so.
Standing Down:
Southport – John Pugh (making this seat vulnerable prey for the Conservatives)
UKIP:
Boston & Skegness – UKIP leader Paul Nuttall has announced that he will be standing for Parliament after a period of prolonged uncertainty. Perhaps not surprisingly, he has chosen to fight a seat within the council area with the highest Leave vote in the UK, at 75%. In 2015, Robin Hunter-Clarke, managed 34% of the vote against the Conservatives’ Matt Warman, who campaigned for Remain.
Clacton – After weeks of tension between incumbent MP Douglas Carswell and UKIP donor Arron Banks. Carswell, who resigned from the party in March, has decided to step down, and Banks, who declared that he would be standing against Carswell had also dropped his candidacy. Jeff Bray (endorsed by Banks), was then selected as the UKIP candidate, but has since resigned over controversial social media post in which he disparaged Muslims
Maidenhead – Gerard Batten MEP is standing against Theresa May.
Great Grimsby – Mike Hookem MEP, now forever synonymous with the ‘fracas’ in the European Parliament with fellow MEP Steven Woolfe, is standing in this seat.
UKIP will not be fielding candidates in seats where the incumbent MP has a track record of being a staunch Eurosceptic, such as Philip Hollobone in Kettering or Kate Hoey in Vauxhall.
Green:
Bristol West – South West MEP Molly Scott Cato is hoping to become the party’s second MP by wresting this seat from Labour’s Thangam Debbonnaire. The party’s vote share in this seat last time was nearly 27%, and they trailed victor Thangam Debbonaire by only 5,673 votes.
Sheffield Central – Former leader Natalie Bennett will be contesting this seat, currently held by Labour’s Clive Betts.
The Green Party will not be fielding candidates in the ultra marginal seat of Ealing Central & Acton, where incumbent Labour MP Rupa Huq has a majority of just 274, or in Brighton Kemptown, where they are backing Labour to oust Conservative Simon Kirby, who has a majority of just 670.
In return, some Labour figures are encouraging the party to stand aside in Caroline Lucas’ seat of Brighton Pavilion, and the Isle of Wight, where the Greens outpolled Labour by 500 votes in 2015.
The Greens are also stepping aside for Lib Dem Sarah Olney in Richmond Park so that she will have a clearer run against Zac Goldsmith.
Others:
Running:
Manchester Gorton – George Galloway has once again thrown his hat into the ring, stating that he is standing here out of ‘admiration’ for the late Gerald Kaufman. Galloway has a history of shock victories, but the fact that this will no longer be a stand-alone by-election is bound to hamper his chances somewhat.
Islington North – Michael Foster, one of Labour’s largest donors, has declared that he will be standing against Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North unless he resigns the leadership of the party. He accused Corbyn of ‘incoherence weakness and lack of leadership’ and that Labour was heading towards electoral ‘disaster’.
Shipley – Sophie Walker, the leader of the Women’s Equality Party, is challenging Philip Davies, which probably has something to do with Davies’ criticisms of ‘feminist zealots’ who ‘want to have their cake and eat it’.
Hull West & Hessle – Former Apprentice contestant and businesswoman Michelle Dewberry will be contesting Alan Johnson’s old seat as an Independent.
Maidenhead – Howling Laud Hope of the Monster Raving Loony Party is back to provide a serious alternative in the sitting Prime Minister’s constituency.
Westmorland & Lonsdale – A candidate known only as ‘Fish Finger’ is preparing himself to run against Tim Farron.
Southend West – Blogger and campaigner Jack Monroe will no longer be standing for the National Health Action party against Conservative David Amess.
Standing Down:
Clacton – Douglas Carswell (Independent, elected as UKIP)
Scotland
SNP:
All current SNP MPs have been reselected to fight this general election.
Michelle Thompson and Natalie McGarry, who had both been suspended by the party, have not been reselected in Edinburgh West and Glasgow East respectively.
Edinburgh South – Jim Eadie , who has previously worked as a parliamentary liaison officer for Nicola Sturgeon at Holyrood, is to try and take the only Labour domino not to fall in the SNP landslide of 2015. Ian Murray’s majority here is only 2,637.
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale have chosen trainee solicitor Màiri McAllan in the SNP’s top target, where Scottish Secretary David Mundell’s majority is only 798.
Conservatives:
David Mundell has been reselected for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale. Other notable Conservative candidates running for Westminster seats at the election are as follows:
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk – John Lamont MSP has been reselected for this must-win Borders seat, hoping to oust the SNP’s Calum Kerr.
Moray – Douglas Ross MSP has been chosen to try and dethrone Angus Robertson.
Perth and North Perthshire – The MEP Ian Duncan has been selected to challenge Pete Wishart.
Edinburgh South West – Miles Briggs MSP, to challenge SNP Home Affairs and Justice spokesperson Joanna Cherry.
Aberdeen South – Ross Thompson MSP, against Callum McCaig.
Gordon – Councillor Colin Clark has been reselected to take the fight to former First Minister Alex Salmond.
Labour:
Ian Murray is standing again in Edinburgh South. Other notable Labour candidates include:
Livingston – Rhea Wolfson, the prominent Momentum activist, has been selected to challenge Hannah Bardell
East Renfrewshire – Blair McDougall, Chair of the Better Together campaign is fighting one of the most union friendly seats in the country, where he will face the SNP’s Kirsten Oswald
Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk – Former Glasgow South West MP Ian Davidson has given up on Glasgow and is standing here instead
Dunfermline and West Fife – Former MSP Cara Hilton has been selected to recapture her old Holyrood seat
Liberal Democrats:
Alistair Carmichael will be back to fight Orkney and Shetland. Other Libs Dem candidates so far include:
East Dunbartonshire – Jo Swinson has been reselected to fight one of the most marginal seats in the country.
Argyll & Bute – Alan Reid is back to try and regain control in the seat hhe first won in 2001.
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk – Catriona Bhatia, local councillor and daughter of David Steel has been deselected here in favour of Caroline Burgess. This is because Ms Bhatia is now contesting the equivalent Holyrood seat recently vacated by John Lamont (who is also standing in this seat).
Green:
Glasgow North – Scottish Green leader Patrick Harvie is contesting the seat being defended by the SNP’s Patrick Grady. The Greens polled 6.2% of the vote here last time.
Wales
Conservatives:
Bridgend – In a somewhat controversial move, Karen Robson has been selected to contest the highly winnable of Bridgend against the wishes of local party members. CCHQ are said to have parachuted Ms Robson into the seat because they were concerned that there were not going to be any female Conservative MPs in Wales after the election. However, a number of Conservative councillors in Bridgend have even threatened to resign their whip over the selection of Ms Robson, having made clear their preference for a local candidate.
Labour:
Vale of Clwyd will see a rematch between Chris Ruane and Conservative James Davies, to whom he narrowly lost the seat in 2015.
Liberal Democrats:
Brecon & Radnorshire – Former MP Roger Williams, who lost the seat to Christopher Davies in 2015, has been selected to fight again.
UKIP:
Pontypridd – Robin Hunter-Clarke, the 24 year old UKIP candidate who polled 34% of the vote in Boston and Skegness in 2015, has been selected to take on arch-Europhile MP Owen Smith, who partly based his Labour leadership campaign around rejecting the result of the referendum.
Northern Ireland
Belfast North – John Finucane, son of the murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, will be standing for Sinn Fein against the DUP’s Westminster leader Nigel Dodds.
West Tyrone – Sinn Fein’s Pat Doherty is standing down here (despite of course, never having taken his seat in the first place).
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