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Julian Smith re-selected for Tories in Skipton & Ripon

Craven MP Julian Smith will contest the next general election for the Conservatives after being re-selected by his local party association.

Posting on social media, he said it was a "great honour" to be readopted as the Conservative Party candidate for Skipton and Ripon.

Mr Smith has been the MP for Skipton and Ripon since 2010, taking over from David Curry who had held the seat for the previous 23 years.

A general election has to be held by the end of January 2025 at the latest but it's widely expected to be called for Autumn 2024.

Whenever it comes, it will be the fifth time Julian Smith has been on the ballot paper as a choice for residents of Craven.

He won the 2010 election with a majority of 9,950. That increased to 20,761 in 2015 before dipping slightly to 19,985 in the 2017 general election. At the last election in December 2019 he had a majority of 23,694 and almost 60% of the share of votes.

Mr Smith, 51, served as a government whip under Theresa May between 2016 and 2019 and was later spent seven months as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in Boris Johnson's government between July 2019 and February 2020.

 

 

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