General election 2017: Greater Lincolnshire MP candidates and constituencies

A total of 59 candidates are standing in the 11 Greater Lincolnshire constituencies in the general election next month.

All 11 2015 MPs are hoping to return to the benches of Parliament. Nine of the seats are Conservative and two are held by Labour.

Boston and Skegness

Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman. Photo: Lincolnshire Reporter

Six candidates are standing to become the next MP for Boston and Skegness.

Conservative Party candidate Matt Warman is defending a majority of 4,336 from the 2015 election, where he defeated UKIP’s Robin Hunter-Clarke.

The seat is safely Conservative but Warman may feel under pressure from voters for voting Remain in the European Union referendum on June 23, 2016.

Boston and Skegness recorded the highest vote to leave the EU, with 75.6% of voters backing Brexit.

Partly because of this, UKIP has selected its leader Paul Nuttall to lead his party into battle in the constituency.

Brigg and Goole

Northern Powerhouse minister Andrew Percy (centre). Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Reporter

Five candidates are standing to become the next MP for Brigg and Goole.

Conservative candidate Andrew Percy will be seeking to win a third successive parliamentary election in the constituency.

Percy won the constituency in 2010 – the first time the Conservatives were successful in the seat since its creation in 1997.

Cleethorpes

Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers. Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Reporter

Five candidates are standing to become the next MP for Cleethorpes.

Conservative candidate Martin Vickers is seeking a third term as the constituency’s MP, having first won in 2010.

The part-rural, part-urban seat in the north of the county was a Labour stronghold under the leadership of Tony Blair, with Shona McIsaac sealing majorities of over 9,000 in 1997, more than 5,000 in 2001 and 2,642 in 2005.

McIsaac eventually lost by 4,298 votes to Vickers in the 2010 general election, with the Conservative increasing his majority to 7,893 five years later.

Gainsborough

Gainsborough MP Sir Edward Leigh

Four candidates are standing to become the next MP for Gainsborough.

Veteran MP Sir Edward Leigh is defending his seat for the Conservatives, having represented the area in Parliament for 34 years, since he was first elected back in 1983.

Brexit-supporting Leigh is known for his Christian conservatism and forthright views from the backbenches, speaking out regarding issues such as abortion and civil partnerships in the past.

He also famously rebelled against the Conservative leadership by voting against the Iraq War in 2003.

The constituency is solidly Conservative, with the last non-Tory to represent the area being Liberal Richard Winfrey way back in 1923.

Grantham and Stamford

Nick Boles, Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford. Photo: Policy Exchange

Six candidates are standing to become the next MP for Grantham and Stamford.

The constituency which was the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher is held by Conservative Nick Boles, who is defending a majority of 18,989 from 2015.

The former skills minister has only just recovered from a brain tumour he was diagnosed with back in October 2016.

The constituency’s previous MP, Quentin Davies, defected from the Conservatives to Labour in 2007, claiming the Conservative Party under the then leader David Cameron had “ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything.”

This is the only time Labour has held the seat, or its predecessors Stamford and Spalding, and Grantham.

Great Grimsby

Great Grimsby MP Melanie Onn

Five candidates are standing to become the next MP for Great Grimsby in the general election on June 8.

The constituency, held by Labour since 1945, is one of the seats which has a strong chance of turning Conservative on June 8.

Current Labour MP Melanie Onn, who was elected in 2015, is defending a majority of 4,540 from the Conservatives.

The town’s MP was previously ITV broadcaster Austin Mitchell, who represented the constituency for 38 years.

Before that, the MP was former Foreign Secretary Tony Crosland.

Lincoln

Lincoln MP Karl McCartney. Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Reporter

Seven candidates are standing to become the next MP for Lincoln.

Lincoln is the oldest constituency in continuous existence in the United Kingdom, having been established in 1265.

It is also a bellwether seat, having been won by the party forming the government in every election since February 1974.

Conservative Karl McCartney has been the city’s MP since 2010, having defeated Labour’s Gillian Merron in 2010, who had represented the constituency for the previous 13 years.

The seat was represented for five years by the future Cabinet minister Margaret Jackson, later Margaret Beckett.

Louth and Horncastle

Louth and Horncastle MP Victoria Atkins

Five candidates are standing to become the next MP for Louth and Horncastle in the general election on June 8.

The area is a Conservative stronghold, with former barrister Victoria Atkins defending a majority of 14,977.

Atkins succeeded Peter Tapsell at the 2015 general election.

Tapsell had represented Louth and Horncastle since the seat was created in 1997.

Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe MP Nic Dakin

Four candidates are standing to become the next MP for Scunthorpe.

The Labour Party has won every parliamentary election in the constituency since it was created from the Glanford and Scunthorpe seat in 1997.

However, Labour MP Nic Dakin is defending a majority of 3,134, well within the Conservatives’ sights if current polling plays out as expected next month.

Sleaford and North Hykeham

Sleaford and North Hykeham MP Caroline Johnson. Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Reporter

Six candidates are standing to become the next MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham.

Conservative Caroline Johnson is defending a majority of 13,144 from a by-election called in December 2016.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Stephen Phillips, who quit because of “irreconcilable policy differences with the current government”.

He had previously accused Prime Minister Theresa May of adopting a “fundamentally undemocratic, unconstitutional” approach to leaving the European Union.

South Holland and the Deepings

John Hayes

Six candidates are standing to become the next MP for South Holland and the Deepings in the general election on June 8.

Conservative candidate John Hayes has spent the last two decades as MP for the constituency, and is defending a majority of 18,567.