Conservatives field more candidates than Labour and Lib Dems in local elections

The party will be fielding candidates in 95 percent of seats across England in the forthcoming local elections - more than both Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

We have already noted that for the first time the party will be fielding a full a set of candidates in Yorkshire and Humberside and a full slate in Liverpool for a second time, and Iain Dale has noted that the Welsh Conservatives are fielding 41% more candidates than they did four years ago.

Congratulations to everyone who has worked hard to make this happen: such as the Regional Directors, Agents, the Northern and Welsh Boards... and centrally people like Alan Mabbutt, Bob Neill and Eric Pickles.

Eric Pickles said:

"These groundbreaking figures confirm that the Conservative Party is back in the north, and is gaining more and more traction across all parts of the country. Our organisation is stronger and more cohesive in places like the North West and Yorkshire, and this has paid dividends in the number of men and women wanting to stand for the Conservatives. These elections are being fought in traditional Labour heartlands, but they are finding it ever more difficult to twist arms and find people willing to be named as Labour candidates.

As a result of hard work and commitment of everyone in the Conservative Party, we have outperformed Labour in all but one region in England, with brilliant performances in the North West, South West and Yorkshire. We are particularly pleased to have such a huge improvement in the number of candidates standing in seats across Wales and the North East, providing more people with the chance to vote Conservative on May 1st."