Rishi Sunak has today announced the next General Election will be held on July 4.

Sunak confirmed the news in a rain-soaked announcement outside 10 Downing Street, during which he said “now is the moment for Britain to choose its future”. It comes after months of speculation over when the election would be held and means MPs across the entire country will be elected.

Update: See our constituency profiles and the final list of candidates standing

In Preston and the surrounding areas, various candidates have already been announced and sitting Conservative MPs in particular will be nervous given the state of current polling. Changes to electoral boundaries mean that thousands of people will be moved into different constituencies.

Read more: New Labour leader at Lancashire County Council focused on displacing Tories

Below, we’ve rounded up a list of the candidates announced so far in Preston, South Ribble, Ribble Valley, Fylde, Lancaster & Wyre, and Chorley. This includes Labour, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Reform as they are likely to stand in most seats.

As Chorley is currently represented by Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle, convention suggests the person in that role in not contested. However, Sir Lindsay has not yet confirmed he will stand again and the Green Party has named a prospective candidate.

Read more: See all our coverage from the recent local elections in Preston

Read below to see who could be standing as your MP (pending confirmation from the relevant local authorities overseeing the elections) and if we’ve missed anyone off, please get in touch by emailing contactus@blogpreston.co.uk

Preston

• Labour – Mark Hendrick*
• Conservative – TBD
• Liberal Democrat – Neil Darby
• Green Party – TBD
• Reform – James Elliot
• Independent – Michael Lavalette

South Ribble

• Labour – Paul Foster
• Conservative – Katherine Fletcher *
• Liberal Democrat – Angela Turner
• Green Party – TBD
• Reform – Andy Hunter

Ribble Valley

• Labour – Maya Ellis
• Conservative – Nigel Evans *
• Liberal Democrat – John Potter
• Green Party – TBD
• Reform – Jason Alexander

Fylde

• Labour – TBD
• Conservative – TBD
• Liberal Democrat – Mark Jewell
• Green Party – 
• Reform – Brook Wimbury

Lancaster & Wyre

• Labour – Cat Smith MP *
• Conservative – Peter Cartridge
• Liberal Democrat – Matt Severn
• Green Party – Jack Lenox
• Reform – TBD

Chorley

• Labour – TBD
• Conservative – TBD
• Liberal Democrat – Not planning to contest the Speaker’s seat
• Green Party – Mark Tebbutt
• Reform – Peter John Flynn

Key: * current MP

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