The Labour Party has begun the process of finding a candidate for Skipton and Ripon at the next general election.

The constituency has been held by the Conservatives since it was created in 1983.

Julian Smith, who has been MP since 2010, increased his majority to 23,694 at the last election in 2019 when he won 60% of the vote.

Although the rural constituency is widely regarded as a safe Tory seat, Labour was boosted by political forecasting website Electoral Calculus recently claiming it had a 53% chance of gaining it.

Labour invited potential candidates to put forward their names on Friday last week (December 8). The deadline for applying is January 10.

Brian McDaid, a Skipton town councillor who finished runner-up to Mr Smith in 2019 with 11,266 votes, said he intended to seek the party nomination again.

With an election expected next year, Mr McDaid said he hoped a candidate would be selected quickly to allow as much time as possible for campaigning.

He said:

“Labour’s visibility in Skipton and Ripon has increased a lot. We have worked hard to show people that the Lib Dems aren’t the second party.

“We have done a lot of door knocking and the phrase ‘where is Julian Smith and what has he contributed locally?’ comes up a lot.”

Skipton Town Council has five Labour councillors, but Ripon City Council has none and Mr McDaid admitted the party needed to focus more on the city.

Keir Mather’s by-election success in Selby and Ainsty.

He said the party had been inspired by Keir Mather’s victory in July’s Selby and Ainsty by-election, when he overturned a 20,137 Conservative majority to win the seat for Labour.

He added:

“Polls are showing it could be a Labour gain but we aren’t taking anything for granted.”

Read more:

• Ripon City Council withdraws support for cathedral development
• Labour overturns huge Tory majority to win Selby and Ainsty by-election