POLITICAL parties across Wiltshire are scurrying to be ready for a general election on December 12 but Devizes Tories are yet to name their candidate.

This week Conservatives said they were down to a shortlist of six to replace Claire Perry after she announced back in the summer that she would not be standing again.

Included on the list is Danny Kruger, son of British Bake-Off judge and top chef Prue Leith. The other hopefuls are Sir Ashley Fox, Antonia Cox, Laura Farris, Dominic Morris and Rupert Harrison.

The final decision was due on November 17 but this is likely to be hurried forward.

Brigadier Peter Sharpe, chairman of Devizes Constituency Conservative Association, said: “The process to select a candidate has taken longer than we would have liked however we now have six excellent candidates who will give members a real choice of who they would like to be their candidate in the next General Election.”

Labour this week announced that Rachael Ross, who lives in the Pewsey Vale with her husband Rob, will represent them in Devizes.

She is a trustee of the charity Devizes Opendoors and chairman of the Devizes Constituency Labour Party.

Other candidates announced for Devizes in recent months include Jo Waltham for the Liberal Democrats, Emma Dawney for the Greens and Daniel Day-Robinson for the Brexit Party.

The Brexit Party also named other Wiltshire candidates, including Leslie Willis for North West Wiltshire, Dr Julia Reid for Chippenham, and Diana Chaloner for South West Wiltshire.

In the Wiltshire North constituency, current MP James Gray has announced he will stand again for the Conservatives.

Running against him for the Liberal Democrats is Brian Mathew, Wiltshire councillor for Box and Colerne. He ran in the 2017 election and received almost 18 per cent of the votes.

Labour have named a new candidate for this constituency, as Calne town councillor Jonathan Fisher will run. He lives in Calne with his family and said he was ‘honoured and humbled’ to be named a candidate.

The Green Party candidate will be Bonnie Jackson.

In the Chippenham constituency, sitting Conservative MP Michelle Donelan, who is a Junior Minister for Children Services, has confirmed that she will be running again to keep the seat she won in 2015.

Her main opponent is likely to be the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate Helen Belcher.

The West Wiltshire Labour Party have not yet confirmed who their candidate will be. Andrew Newman, who fought the seat for Labour in the last General Election, confirmed he will not be standing.

Labour Party local secretary Cllr Steve Abbot, chairman of Corsham Town Council, said: "We hope to be able to name our candidate by Friday."

The Brexit Party candidate is Dr Julia Reid, a former MEP and retired research biochemist. The South West Green Party candidate will be Margaret Green. 

The UKIP party has been asked for the names of its candidates for the Chippenham seat but has so far failed to respond.

In the 2017 General Election, Michelle Donelan polled 31,267 votes (54.72 per cent), compared to Helen Belcher on 14,637 votes (25.62 per cent), and Andrew Newman with 11,236 votes (19.66 per cent).

The turn-out for the Chippenham constituency was 57,350 (75.03 per cent|), with 210 ballot papers spoiled.

It is not yet known where the polling stations will be but last time the count took place at the Olympiad Centre in Chippenham with the result being declared at 3.08am.