Five candidates are bidding to become MP for Skipton and Ripon on May 7.

JACQUIE BELL (Liberal Democrat):

JACQUIE is a native of Sheffield, was educated at UCNW, Bangor and Edinburgh University and is married to Simon, whose family has farmed in North Yorkshire for over 150 years. They have one son.

She is an experienced campaigner, most recently as a member of the 2014 Lib Dem European Team for Yorkshire and the Humber. She has previously been a councillor with cabinet responsibility for health and social care and a non-executive member of a health board.

Jacquie is currently employed as a social worker in a specialist hospital for older people and lives in Dunbar with her husband.

As a qualified social worker for nearly 30 years, and as a councillor for a large rural ward, Jacquie has a long-standing experience of advocating for others. She has particular knowledge of health and social care, asylum and benefits issues and is also experienced in issues relating to agriculture, planning, rural transport, education and tourism. She has been involved with Liberal Democrat policy formation for many years.

Jacquie has been working with the Liberal Democrat constituency team and meeting with local residents to hear the issues of concern to them, whether it be parking issues in Skipton or the issues facing young people living in the more rural Dales villages. She would move to the constituency if elected.

MALCOLM BIRKS (Labour):

MALCOLM is a local architect, who has helped to build schools and nurseries across the country as part of the last Labour government’s investment in education. He grew up in Glusburn and attended South Craven School where his father was a teacher for 40 years. Malcolm is married with two children.

He says he was motivated to stand by the unfairness and suffering he had encountered.

He says: “Poverty and low pay are affecting millions of people, holding back their lives. Even in the Skipton and Ripon constituency, 15 per cent of children are living in poverty and 30 per cent of employees earn less than the Living Wage.

“The Tory-Lib Dem government has, incredibly, given a tax cut to millionaires and left banking bonuses virtually untouched whilst forcing severe cuts to vital local services.”

Malcolm has hit the election trail, with a pop-up trailer full of campaign material. He has even won the support of famous playwright Alan Bennett.

“I recently received a postcard from Alan Bennett in support of my campaign whilst warning me of a saying in his village, that the Tory Party could field a sheep as their candidate and it would still get elected. But times have changed and the issues in this election are as real in this constituency as they are anywhere else.”

ANDREW BROWN (Green Party):

ANDY has lived in the village of Cononley for over 20 years. He is a retired college lecturer and former regional director of Young Peoples Learning for Yorkshire. He writes regularly for the Yorkshire Post country section and has also written on educational issues for the Independent, the Guardian and the Times Educational Supplement.

He says he is standing for the Green Party because of his conviction that the country needs to take proper care of the environment that surrounds us.

He says: “Across Skipton and Ripon there are endless proposals to develop new housing across green land whilst there are perfectly good re-development opportunities being ignored.

“Our farmers are under so much price pressure from supermarkets that milk is now cheaper than water and small local farmers continue to get too little financial support to enable them to produce food sustainably.

“We also remain at risk of fracking taking place beneath our feet at a time when a proper investment in technology could enable us to massively reduce energy consumption. “ He believes that austerity is a dangerous economic choice and that problems originated with a 2008 banking crisis that still haven’t been properly tackled. He wants to see investment to rebalance the economy away from risky speculation and into sustainable business practices.

ALAN HENDERSON (UKIP):

ALAN and his wife, Kate, have lived in the constituency for over 20 years. They have two teenage children and two dogs.

He took an apprenticeship in hotel management and became an assistant manager, before being approached to join the financial services sector.

In 1989, he set up his own management and recruitment business and, more recently, created a renewable energy business.

He says: “I bring a number of skillsets to the table, the most important being common sense. I believe that honesty is a fundamental, basic requirement.

“There is much work to be done to put the ‘great’ back into Great Britain - to leave the EU; to restrict the UK’s open door immigration policy; to stop NHS health tourism; to ensure that new business development is ‘the’ key UK focus of activity; to allow Britain to make its own laws; to halt the massive reductions in our armed forces; to establish free university places for core, primary subjects; to stop the £billions in wasted foreign aid; to make more housing available on brownfield sites; to prioritise the care of our elderly; and to give voters the ability to ‘recall’ their MPs.

“Finally, farming is vital to the area and UKIP have policies to replace decreasing Euro subsidies whilst assisting farmers in feeding our constituency and the nation.”

JULIAN SMITH (Conservative):

JULIAN was elected in 2010 following a successful career as a businessman. He says he has focused on being a strong voice for Skipton and Ripon, leading campaigns to save Skipton’s Magistrates’ Court, win millions of pounds of investment for buildings at Craven College and local schools and protect rural bus services.

He has also been closely involved in bringing the Tour de France Grand Depart to the UK and leading efforts to bring £70 million to North Yorkshire for Superfast Broadband.

Julian helped to lobby for £7 million funding for the new A&E facility at Airedale Hospital and provided support in setting up new local health organisations introduced by the Government in 2011. He also runs an annual school leaders’ lunch for all secondary schools in the constituency.

Julian has been the Prime Minister’s Small Business Ambassador for Yorkshire and the North-East and has been heavily involved in supporting the area’s small businesses. He is patron of the Skipton and Ripon Enterprise Group.

Julian has been part of national campaigns to increase funding for rural schools and healthcare. He has campaigned for an in/out referendum on the EU, been a member of the Fresh Start group of Conservative MPs making the case for EU reform and been heavily involved in supporting the new trade agreement negotiations with the US.