Meet the eight candidates standing to become Melton's next MP

Deadline for nominations was Friday afternoon for the new constituency of Melton and Syston.

Alicia Kearns has been named as Prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives in the new Rutland and Stamford constituency so she will be not be standing this time for the Melton seat after winning it at the 2019 ballot.

The Tories have put forward Edward Argar, who has served two terms as Charnwood MP, winning the last poll with a majority of more than 22,000.

Labour has been well ahead in recent national voting prediction polls and the party’s candidate for Melton and Syston is Zafran Khan.

YouGov has predicted a close battle between Mr Argar and Mr Khan in their latest polling prediction for the new constituency.

There are some familiar names for Melton voters in the candidate list, including the Green Party contender, Alastair McQuillan, who finished fourth in 2019 but increased his vote share to 4.9 per cent from the 2017 election.

Marilyn Gordon, one of Melton Borough Council’s Melton Dorian ward councillors, is standing again as an Independent – she finished sixth in the 2015 Rutland and Melton ballot.

The Liberal Democrats have nominated Andy Konieczko as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Melton and Syston, hoping he will improve on the party’s third-place finish in 2019 achieved by Carol Weaver.

Reform UK has been picking up support in national prediction polls under new leader Nigel Farage and Pete Morris will hope to make an impact in the Melton ballot.

There are two new parties contesting the local seat this time around – the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom and Rejoin EU.

Dr Teck Khong, a GP and former police surgeon for the Leicestershire force, is standing as leader of the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom, the fourth time he has stood for the General Election, although it was with different parties on the previous occasions.

The candidate for Rejoin EU is Matt Shouler – a Vale of Belvoir resident and former Royal Navy serviceman whose party campaigns for the UK to return to the European Union.