Mid Beds by-election: Candidates line up to replace Nadine Dorries MP

At least seven candidates are to stand to replace Conservative MP Nadine Dorries in the Mid Bedfordshire by-election this autumn.

It was triggered by her formal resignation - with a statement attacking Rishi Sunak - more than two months after she announced she was stepping down "with immediate effect".

She holds a majority of 24,664 in a constituency that has been won by the Tories since 1931.

The party has selected its new candidate and the BBC has been speaking to him, and to the other prospective candidates hoping to overturn Ms Dorries' majority.

Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by surname.

Mr Akinbusoye became Bedfordshire's police and crime commissioner (PCC) in May 2021.

His campaign office said: "He has a strong connection to the constituency, having been a resident for nearly 15 years, and has demonstrated his dedication through his role as the elected police and crime commissioner.

"He cannot wait to get out campaigning to get his message across to everyone and wants to help deliver the five clear priorities Rishi Sunak and the government are focused on - halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats."

Mr Akinbusoye added: "I'm not taking anything for granted... people know what my track record is, what I've delivered here in Bedfordshire for them, for our young people, for our communities, and that's what I'll do again if I'm elected as an MP.

"I'm visible around here, I live locally, people know what I'm about and I think people will make their judgements come polling day."

Mr Holland grew up in the constituency in Ampthill and said he spent a lot of his time as a youngster in Ampthill Park.

Mr Holland, who was selected as his party's candidate for the constituency back in January, says that locally he is fighting hard to prevent the Greenwoods development between Barton-le-Clay and Silsoe from happening.

Some 4,000 homes could be built on farm land - however he adds that "local issues won't win or lose an election" for any of the candidates.

He said his party was "in it to win it" as this was the first election where they have had a candidate in place before an election has actually been called.

He said "anything over a 10% vote share would demonstrate really good progress" although he hopes he would get more than that.

He added that he was "irritated" over events involving Ms Dorries and the Conservative party saying "while the country is struggling with the cost of living, the Tories are fighting amongst themselves over who should ennobled or not".

Mr Holland said the NHS backlog "needs to be addressed" arguing that "we all need to look after ourselves better to ease the burden on the service".

He said his party had a strategy to utilise the private sector to carry out operations that were currently causing long waiting lists. He reckoned other countries "are laughing" at the fact we sometimes have to wait three months to see a consultant when elsewhere people are seen within 48 hours.

Ms Holland-Lindsay, who grew up in the county, represents Leighton Buzzard on the Central Bedfordshire Council - having recently won her seat from the Conservatives.

She is head of public affairs for the National Federation of Women's Institutes and oversees the organisation's campaigning and influencing work. She has also previously worked for national disability charities.

She said her by-election campaign would focus on local health services.

Ms Holland-Lindsay said: "I am determined to be a strong local champion for communities across Bedfordshire.

"Our local health services have been neglected and underfunded, leaving local people unable to see their GP or dentist.

"It is frankly scandalous what this government has done to our NHS in Bedfordshire."

Mr Mackey has been an independent Central Beds councillor for Flitwick since 2019 and following May's local elections he is now on the executive team on the unitary authority, which is run by independents.

He pointed to independent success in the last two local elections in Central Bedfordshire as evidence that his candidacy in any Parliamentary by-election should be taken seriously.

Mr Mackey said "a caring, viable and interested independent candidate can actually do more for a community than someone who is elected on political ideology because they are in touch with residents and deeply care what happens to the area".

He admitted he was appealing to voters who "vote Conservative and always will" but said that the only way to change that was "to work hard for people and keep working hard".

He said a number of former Conservative voters now support him in his Flitwick ward and that "keeping promises and being responsible with people's votes" is the only way to persuade people not to vote for traditional parties.

With a massive majority to overhaul for any party, Mr Mackey said he was "not naive in thinking that the whole constituency will rise up with one voice to vote for him" - however he predicted that next time the vote might be split between the parties and that this election would "be much more closely fought" and "will come down to a narrower margin" than previous contests.

Mr Sibley, on his social media, described himself as the "Green Party candidate for Mid Beds in the campaign for real change".

He lives in Toddington and works in Adult Social Care looking after disabled people.

He told the BBC he was standing because of the climate change issue and he had "felt hopeless watching the news waiting for someone to change things".

He added that he was the type of person who "if I don't do things myself, worries they won't be done at all" and added that "even I fail, I know I'd have at least tried".

He decided to stand because he found after meeting people that there was "a lot of support for the Green movement, and a lot of belief we can change things in society".

Mr Strathern is a former teacher who now works for the Bank of England, as well as being a cabinet member on Waltham Forest Council in east London.

He said: "Bedfordshire's towns and villages are where I grew up, where I first found work, and where my parents and many of my friends have built their lives.

"People here have been completely overlooked by a Tory government too busy fighting amongst themselves to address the issues that really matter.

"The people of Mid Bedfordshire deserve better. They deserve a full-time, hard-working MP who puts their needs first."

Alan Victor is the True & Fair Party candidate - he has lived in Bedfordshire for 32 years, and was selected in October as the party's candidate for the next election.

Mr Victor, 63, is a retired car company executive who decided to change course because he was "fed up with the current state of UK politics and mainstream political parties hijacking our democracy, promising the world and failing to deliver".

He stood in the Central Bedfordshire Council elections in 2023 as an independent in the Cranfield & Marston Moretaine ward and was 59 votes short of being elected.

The independent group is the largest on the council. It does not have a majority, but runs the unitary authority as a minority administration.

Mr Victor said: "By doing that I got out there, knocked on over 2,500 doors, spoke to 1,200 residents and I was able to engage."

He says feels he "had a share in the independents' success, as I campaigned with another candidate who did get elected".

The party is led by Gina Miller, who mounted a legal challenge against the government after former Prime Minister Theresa May's invoked of Article 50 to begin the process of the UK leaving the European Union. She argued in the courts that Parliament had to be consulted.

Mr Victor says: "A lot of people don't vote because they've given up on politics and don't trust politicians.

"This is our first campaign; we were gearing up for the general election, but as the by-election is on our doorstep we need to gear ourselves up, from a small base, but we'll go for it and see how it pans out.

"If we can get to people who normally don't vote, then we could get a significant result."