ConservativeHome has learnt that two of the first 35 seats advertised to A-listers have received only two applications: Telford (Labour majority of 5,406) and Oxford West and Abingdon (LibDem majority 7,683). Both seats apparently received only one application from an A-lister and one from a local candidate. This contrasts with the fifty or so A-listers that have applied for 'safe' seats like South Northamptonshire and Folkestone & Hythe.
Applications for the first tranche of seats closed on 19th May. Today's Telegraph reports that "there was little interest in seats where an incumbent Liberal Democrat is seen to have become entrenched, such as in Lewes and Oxford West and Abingdon."
Bernard Jenkin, Deputy Chairman for Candidates, told The Telegraph:
"Any constituency is entitled to draw stumps for now and re-advertise its vacancy at a later date, and a number will choose to do so... We are certainly not going to force them into anything, and if a local association wants to look at a wider pool of candidates then that is something we can discuss."