The candidates for the Bury North and Bury South seats for the upcoming General Election on Thursday, July 4 have been announced.

The borough is a primary target for Labour and the Conservatives and both seats have been named as two of the most important areas in the country Labour is looking to win.

Both constituencies voted in Conservative MPs at the last General Election in December 2019, including Bury North’s James Daly, who beat Labour opponent James Frith by just 105 votes – making the seat the most marginal in the country.

Mr Daly and Bury South MP Christian Wakeford, who now represents Labour after defecting to Labour in January 2022, will be standing to retain their seats while Mr Frith will be fighting to win back his seat, which he held from 2017 to 2019.

There will be eight candidates standing in Bury North and nine in Bury South.

Both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer have visited Bury in the last week as part of their election campaign. 

Mr Sunak said he was confident of retaining seats in Bury and across the North West due to his policies on migration and said that it's clear how much Mr Daly has done for Bury North over the last few years. 

Mr Starmer visited the Fusilier Museum for his visit to the borough and he spoke about his commitment to national security and also said he is prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend the UK.

The candidates for Bury North are:

• Mark Alcock (Liberal Democrat)

• Shafat Ali (Workers Party)

• James Daly (Conservative)

• Spencer Donnelly (Independent)

• James Frith (Labour)

• Anwarul Haq (Independent)

• Lynda Rosewell (Reform UK)

• Owain Sutton (Green Party)

The candidates for Bury South are:

• Jeff Armstrong (Reform UK)

• Sameera Ashraf (Workers Party)

• Michael Elston (Independent)

• Stephen Morris (English Democrats)

• Andrew Page (Liberal Democrat)

• Dan Ross (Communist Party of Britain)

• Arnie Saunders (Conservative)

• Christian Wakeford (Labour)

• Michael Welton (Green Party)

Voters are reminded that they have until June 18 to make sure they are on the electoral register.

The closing date for requesting a postal vote is June 19.

To vote in person, residents will need to bring photo ID with them.