CCHQ announces 18 more seats for selection

The deadline for this latest tranche of seats is 2pm on Monday 11th June:

1. Batley and Spen
2. Blackpool South
3. Chorley
4. Eastleigh
5. Ellesmere Port and Neston
6. Hazel Grove
7. Hendon
8. North East Derbyshire
9. Penistone and Stocksbridge
10. Sheffield Hallam
11. Stretford and Urmston
12. Thornbury and Yate
13. Thurrock
14. Walsall North
15. Walsall South
16. Wolverhampton North East
17. Wolverhamton South East
18. Yeovil

Comments

[malcolm]

Eastleigh at last! I can't understand why such a marginal seat has been left without a candidate for so long.

[Andrew Woodman]

A few high profile Lib Dem seats there. Wonder why they've all come out at once.

[wakeHantsup]

Good to see Eastleigh at last, 2 years after the GE and about a year later than it should have been. It finally took direct questioning of Francis on Tory Radio to get action.

So where is Southampton Test? Last year's locals scored 28% to us and 32% to Labour. This May was scored 32.5% to us and 31.4% to Labour.

Wells predicted a 7000 Lab majority but that was based on last time fielding a candidate late in the day. Is the Hants organisation delaying things to get a similar outcome?

Someone wake up the Hampshire organisation or have a word with Francis.

EARLY SELECTIONS = VICTORIES.

[Ben Joseph]

Tim - stop being such a conspiracy theorist.That post was UKIP nutter-esque!

There is obviously a good reason why these Lib Dem seats have only just come up and it certainly is not because Francis Maude wants us to loose them.

The main thing is that we get a good local candidate in these seats and get down to it!

[anon]

Batley and Spen, Blackpool South, Eastleigh, Hendon, Stretford and Urmston, Thurrock are winnable (Eastleigh and Hendon being the most likely gains).

Frankly if any wannabe MP thinks they are going to get into Parliament in any of the other seats they are dilluded, unless the Labour Party is wiped out on the scale that we were in 1997. Not going to happen

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

"As for Thurrock, the only Conservative who could win is Tim Janman, and as the Cameroons wont even contemplate him standing, Mackinlay will be safe for another 4 years" = Tim Aker @ 16:40

You're 'aving a bleein' lauff aintcha?

[Duncan]

Tim- that is total nonsense. How do you square that with the fact that many of the key Conservative-Lib Dem marginals eg Solihull, Carshalton etc were the first in the country to select?

Sadly some of the Lib Dem held seats on this list like Sheffield Hallam and Thornbury and Yate were once safe Conservative seats which have become the closest thing to safe Lib Dem seats, if there is such a thing. That is why they are selecting now.

Of these seats, two really stand out. Eastleigh where I hope the outstanding Conor Burns is re-selected and Hendon which given the large swing to the Party in London must now be very winnable.

One other question,does anyone know why Brent North is not yet on this list?

[Chris]

wakeHantsup,
I know, absolutely fantastic results in Test, and I'm hoping we can make even bigger gains next year (We made some tremendous inroads in various wards).

We had both a majority in Test and Itchen which is fantastic, but I still wonder if it could be replicated at a GE, especially seeing as we had horribly low turnout in a number of wards. Also the majorities of Whitehead and Denham won't be easily overcome, so it's probably quite low down on CCHQs list.

Rumour has it that Eastleigh has been held back this long so as to allow Conor Burns ample time to decide on whether he wants to run again. As he was unsucessful in East Hants I'd like to think that he'd give Eastleigh another shot. Unfortunately the council is packed with Lib Dems now, and I'm unsure as to how active the party is in Eastleigh these days :-(

[Preston]

Chorley has been cut back in the boundary reviews, and is made a little harder to gain for the Tories than before. But the recent local elections both in Chorley and South Ribble knock both seats firmly into the grasp of the Conservatives if they work hard enough....and in only one seat is this happening.

South Ribble has had a very impressive candidate working very hard on a lot of issues - never out of the papers, never short of publicity. Boundary changes bring in to South Ribble leafy suburbia and rural expanse. It looks very good for the Tories here.

Chorley could not be more different. The former bellweather seat seems to have been left by HQ to sink or swim on its own. The boundary changes cut back the seat to a more urban core but the Conservative vote is going up. But why no candidate, why no big campaign or local paper coverage here?

Chorley could be a good seat to battle but I think, being an "off the radar" northern seat will simply not be attractive to the A list types.

[Justine McGuinness]

You Tories won't be able to decapitate us
in Yeovil.

[Mastiff]

So what has happened to Chester? I was surprised they were not in the previous round. Are there moves locally to increase membership to vote for local candidates (we still have the 3 month rule for selections)?

[Cllr Iain Lindley]

Do we know why some associations have been left later? What happens if a particular association says "no, not yet"?

[Rich]

Sheffield Hallam is one to stay clear of for any candidate with any sense, but up the road in Penistone and Stocksbridge, we're not going to win it, but it's probably one for a good new candidate to make a good first impression.

Three way marginals don't stay three way for long, and we're neck and neck with the Libdems, whoever takes second place at the next GE may have the chance to make bigger inroads after that.

[A G Briggs]

At last Eastleigh comes to be noticed.For far to long the seat and area has been neglected.The current Chairman has worked very hard with minimum support.A seat with the possible future lib dem leader with a small majority and those that decide have given no priority to this area.WHY?
Eastleigh and the Hampshire area adjacent to it should be considered for more support that has been evident in recent times.
Romsey Winchester Meon and Easleigh are all seats that should be top priorities now and not just at the run up to the next election.

[Ryan Newell]

I feel that gven Chris Huhnes greater presence since the last general election this seat will not turn blue.

The tories should concentrate on Southampton North & Romsey and also Winchester as these should be easy wins.

Out of the 2 other Southampton seats Test is winnable for the tories but Itchen will require alot of work but i thik Denham majoirty will not be overturned for a while yet.

[eastender]

How is Tim Jarman these days whats he up to - might he stage a comeback in Thurrock?

[Steve]

Chester has been left until later in the year to allow things to 'cool down' after the Paul Offer resignation.

[Peter]

"Preston" refers to the contrasts between Chorley and South Ribble. South Ribble have had the benefit of an excellent PPC in place well before the last GE, an excellent Council election campaign with a hot issue, with all-out council elections. All that contributes to the excellent result and press coverage.

In contrast Chorley has council elections by thirds so the impact any year can hardly match that of our close neighbours. But importantly, Chorley Council became Conservative last year after many years in opposition. I agree with "Preston's" final point that Chorley could be overlooked. Importantly, based on the new constituency and drilling back to the last time each Ward was fought, we have a 10% vote lead over Labour. ADDITIONALLY, over 29,000 did not vote at the last GE many waiting to be motivated when our Party is now ready for that role. Now that IS telling on the viablity of Chorley.

[Tim Philpott]

Interesting to see the tougher Wolverhampton and Walsall seats coming up now - I guess all of the winnable seats in the Black Country like Stourbridge and Wolves SW have already selected.

Anyone got any thoughts on the Walsall seats?

[Teck Khong]

Does anyone know if Hendon has completed its short-list?

[Deputy Editor]

Yes, I'm verifying it now.