3,322 candidates stood in the 2019 general election, which was held on 12 December 2019.[1] The deadline for parties and individuals to file candidate nomination papers to the acting returning officer (and the deadline for candidates to withdraw) was 16:00 on 14 November 2019.[2]

Gender

A record number of women took part, with 1,120 female candidates in total (34%).[3] The election also saw the highest ever number of transgender and non-binary candidates, ten overall.[4]

Political parties

The Conservative Party put forward the most candidates, standing in 635 of the UK's 650 seats. The Labour Party contested 631, the Liberal Democrats 611, the various Green parties[n 1] (a total of 497), and the Brexit Party 275.[3] The total number of candidates by party is shown below:

Party[5] Candidates
Conservative and Unionist Party 635
Labour Party 631
Liberal Democrats 629
Green Party of England and Wales 472
Brexit Party 275
Independent 187
Scottish National Party 59
UKIP 44
Plaid Cymru 36
Yorkshire Party 28
Christian Peoples Alliance 27
Official Monster Raving Loony Party 24
Scottish Green Party 22
Social Democratic Party 20
Liberal Party 19
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 18
Social Democratic & Labour Party 14
Democratic Unionist Party 17
Ulster Unionist Party 16
Sinn Féin 15
Aontú 7
Animal Welfare Party 6
Libertarian Party 5
Advance Together 5
Renew Party 4
English Democrats 4
Workers Revolutionary Party 4
Green Party Northern Ireland 3
Women's Equality Party 3
The Independent Group for Change 3
Gwlad Gwlad 3
The Justice & Anti-Corruption Party 3
Young People's Party 3
Alliance for Green Socialism 3
Socialist Equality Party 2
Scottish Family Party 2
Communities United Party 2
North East Party 2
People Before Profit 2
Christian Party 2
Socialist Party of Great Britain 2
Veterans and People's Party 2
Peace Party 2
Yeshua 2
British National Party 1
Mebyon Kernow 1
Putting Cumbria First 1
Scottish Libertarian Party 1
Speaker 1

Withdrawn or disowned candidates

The following candidates withdrew from campaigning or had support from their party withdrawn after the close of nominations and so will remain on the ballot paper in their constituency.

Candidate Party Constituency Reason for withdrawal Date
Safia Ali Labour Falkirk Prior antisemitic posts on Facebook[6] 28 November
Amjad Bashir Conservative Leeds North East Made antisemitic comments in 2014[7][8] 20 November[9][10]
Sophie Cook Independent East Worthing and Shoreham Reported experience of abuse and harassment[11] 19 November
Victor Farrell Brexit Party Glenrothes Homophobic comments in 2017[12] 18 November
Neale Hanvey SNP Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Allegations of antisemitism in a 2016 Facebook post[13] 28 November
Ryan Houghton Conservative Aberdeen North Antisemitic, Islamophobic and homophobic tweets in 2012[14] 19 November
Ivan Lewis Independent Bury South Urged voters to vote Conservative[15] 4 December
Ben Mathis Liberal Democrats Hackney North and Stoke Newington Offensive tweets up to 2018[16] 24 November
Waheed Rafiq Liberal Democrats Birmingham, Hodge Hill Antisemitic comments up to 2014[17] 20 November
Flora Scarabello Conservative Glasgow Central Islamophobic comments[18] 27 November

Notes

  1. ^ There are three separate but sister Green parties in the UK: the Green Party of England and Wales, Scottish Green Party and Green Party of Northern Ireland.

References

  1. ^ Turnnidge, Sarah (16 November 2019). "Record Number Of Women To Stand In 2019 General Election". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  2. ^ "All the key General Election dates and deadlines". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b Kentish, Benjamin (16 November 2019). "General election: Record number of women set to stand as candidates". The Independent. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  4. ^ Parsons, Vic (29 November 2019). "There's a record number of trans and non-binary people running for parliament in the UK general election". PinkNews. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  5. ^ "Known candidates for each ballot in the UK Parliament elections". Democracy Club Candidates. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  6. ^ Carrell, Severin (28 November 2019). "Scottish Labour drops Falkirk candidate over antisemitism claims". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  7. ^ Harpin, Lee (18 November 2019). "Tory election candidate for Leeds North East claims British Jews return from Israel as 'brainwashed extremists'". The Jewish Cheonicle. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  8. ^ van der Zyl, Marie (18 November 2019). "Condemnation for Conservative candidate who described British Jews returning from Israel as 'brainwashed extremists'". President, Board of Deputies of British Jews. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Tory candidate suspended over anti-Semitism". BBC News. 20 November 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  10. ^ Frot, Mathilde (18 November 2019). "Tories drop candidate who said Jews return from Israel 'brainwashed extremists' (edited 20 November 2019)". The Jewish News. Retrieved 30 November 2019 – via The Times of Israel (website).
  11. ^ "GE2019 – Finding the right path". 19 November 2019 – via www.sophiecook.me.uk.
  12. ^ McCall, Chris (18 November 2019). "Brexit Party withdraws support from Glenrothes candidate over 'rampant homophobia'". www.scotsman.com.
  13. ^ "General election 2019: SNP drop candidate over claims of anti-Semitism". BBC News. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  14. ^ "Tory candidate suspended for 'unacceptable' comments". 19 November 2019 – via www.bbc.com.
  15. ^ "Ex-Labour minister urges constituents to vote Tory to stop Corbyn". Evening Standard. 4 December 2019.
  16. ^ "Hackney North Lib Dem candidate dropped over 'clearly offensive' tweets". Hackney Citizen. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  17. ^ "Lib Dem candidate suspended from party over 'clearly anti-Semitic' remarks". Evening Standard. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  18. ^ "Scottish Tories suspend second election candidate over alleged Islamophobia". The Herald. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
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