Plenty of interest in representing county at Westminster

WITH nine candidates in Colchester, eight in Chelmsford, and seven in Clacton, this year’s General Election has attracted a bumper crop of people eager to enjoy the Westminster lifestyle.

Following boundary changes, there is an extra constituency in Essex, with Clacton, Harwich, Colchester, Chelmsford, Maldon, Witham, Braintree and Saffron Walden all giving their names to parliamentary constituencies.

The battle to unseat Liberal Democrat Bob Russell in Colchester has seen the nomination of Conservative, Labour, UK Independence Party, British National Party, Green, English Democrats, and the People’s Party Essex, and an independent.

Paul Shaw, a late entrant into the race, has no indicated any allegiance on the ballot paper.

The English Democrats will also be standing in Chelmsford, where and another candidate in the county town may achieve a lot of sympathy votes - Ben Sherman, who is fighting the seat for the Reduce Tax On Beer Party.

In Clacton, Tory Douglas Carswell is being challenged by former council leader Terry Allen who is standing for Tendring First, initially formed by renegade Conservatives after a major split in the party’s local ranks. Another candidate is former Labour MP Ivan Henderson while Christopher Humphrey - founder of the Ha! Ha! Woof Woof Party - has put his name forward as an independent.

Nominations in full:

Braintree: Daisy Blench (Green), Bill Edwards (Lab), Michael Ford (UKIP), Paul Hooks (BNP), Steve Jarvis (LD), Brooks Newmark (Con).

Clacton: Terry Allen (TF), Douglas Carswell (Con), Michael Andrew (LD), Ivan Henderson (Lab), Christopher Humphrey (Ind), Chris Southall (Green), Jim Taylor (BNP)

Chelmsford: Simon Burns (Con), Pete Dixon (Lab), Stephen Robinson (LD), Angela Thomson (Green), Ken Wedon (UKIP), Michael Bateman (BNP), Claire Breed (ED), Ben Sherman (RTOBP)

Colchester: Eddie Bone (ED), Sidney Chaney (BNP), Peter Lynn (Green), Jordan Newell (Lab), Garryck Noble (PPE), John Pitts (UKIP), Will Quince (Con), Bob Russell (LD), Paul Shaw (NPI)

Harwich & Essex North: Simon Anselmi (UKIP), Darren Barrenger (Lab), Chris Fox (Green), Bernard Jenkin (Con), James Raven (LD), Steve Robey (BNP), Peter Thompson Bates (Ind).

Saffron Walden: *Sir Alan Haselhurst (Con), Reza Hossain (Green), Barbara Light (Lab), Roger Lord (UKIP), Christine Mitchell (BNP), Peter Wilcock (LD).

Maldon: Len Bain (BNP), Swatantra Nandanwar (Lab), Jesse Pryke (UKIP), Elfreda Tealby-Watson (LD), John Whittingdale (Con).

Witham: James Abbott (Green), David Hodges (UKIP), Priti Patel (Con), Margaret Phelps (LD), John Spademan (Lab).

Key: Conservative (Con), Labour (Lab), Liberal Democrat (LD), Green Party (Green), British National Party (BNP), UK Independence Party (UKIP), English Democrats (ED), People’s Party Essex (PPE), Reduce Tax On Beer Party (RTOBP), Independent (Ind), No party indicated on nomination form (NPI).