General election guide: all the Lancaster and Morecambe candidates, boundary changes and the current state of play

This is how the contests are shaping up in the Lancaster and Wyre, and Morecambe and Lunesdale seats – including all the major boundary changes you need to know about - ahead of the big vote on 4th July:

***LANCASTER AND WYRE

Candidate list

Nigel Alderson - Reform UK

Peter Cartridge - Conservative Party

Jack Lenox - Green Party

Matt Severn - Liberal Democrats

Cat Smith (sitting MP in Lancaster and Fleetwood until Parliament was dissolved) - Labour Party

State of Play

A re-formed constituency for the 2024 election - having previously existed between 1997 and 2010 - it will absorb parts of the current Wyre and Preston North and Lancaster and Fleetwood seats, which are both being abolished.

The previous Wyre and Preston North Conservative MP Ben Wallace - who was first elected in 2005 to the old Lancaster and Wyre seat - is not standing for election again this year. He won by a comfortable majority of 16,781 votes at the last election in 2019. The previous Lancaster and Fleetwood Labour MP Cat Smith is contesting the redrawn constituency. She enjoys a majority of 2,380 in her present seat.

Wyre and Preston North has been Conservative held since it was formed in 2010, while Lancaster and Fleetwood was also taken by the Tories when it was created the same year, but was snatched by Labour in 2015 and has been retained by them ever since.

The new Lancaster and Wyre seat is 30th on Labour’s target list by virtue of the size of the swing needed to take it from the Conservatives. That calculation - made on behalf of the Press Association - is based on a notional result from the 2019 election, had the constituency existed then.

Major boundary changes

In the Preston City Council area, the Greyfrairs, Sharoe Green, Preston Rural North and Preston Rural East wards - totalling more than 23,000 residents - will all shift into the revamped Ribble Valley constituency from their current home in Wyre and Preston North. The Garrison and Cadley wards will move from that constituency into the Preston seat.

The Skerton East and Skerton West wards will move into the new Lancaster and Wyre constituency from their present home in Morecambe and Lunesdale.

New seat’s boundaries

The full list of wards which fall under the new Lancaster and Wyre seat is: Brock with Catterall, Calder, Garstang, Great Eccleston, Hambleton and Stalmine, Pilling, Preesall and Wyresdale - all in the Wyre Council area - and Bulk, Castle, Ellel, John O'Gaunt, Marsh, Scotforth East, Scotforth West, Skerton East, Skerton West, and University and Scotforth Rural, in the Lancaster City Council area.

***MORECAMBE AND LUNESDALE

Candidate list

Lizzi Collinge - Labour Party

Gina Dowding - Green Party

Peter Jackson - Liberal Democrats

David Morris (sitting MP until Parliament was dissolved) - Conservative Party

Barry Parsons - Reform UK

State of play

The Conservative Party’s David Morris has represented the seat since 2010 and, last time around in 2019, secured a 6,354 majority and a 52.8 percent share of the vote. For the second election running, his Labour challenger will be Lancashire county councillor Lizzi Collinge, while fellow County Hall member Gina Dowding is on the ballot for the Green Party.

The seat has tracked the national result since its formation 1983, first going to the Tories and then turning Labour between 1997 and 2010.

Major boundary changes

The Skerton East and Skerton West wards move into the new Lancaster and Wyre seat.