The full list of candidates vying for votes in next month’s council elections in Carlisle has been revealed.

Voters in 16 different wards will go to the polls on May 5 when they will choose who represents them on the city council.

A total of 74 different candidates have put their names forward, including 11 from Ukip – one of the emerging trends in recent years.

Those standing overall range from big names in the city’s local government - including Colin Glover, leader in the latest administration, who is up for election in Currock.

Lee Sherriff, who was the city’s Labour candidate in last year’s General Election, is standing in Harraby.

A number of big names are standing down this year, including the council’s deputy leader Elsie Martlew who is calling it a day in Castle, and Donald Cape in Upperby.

Another councillor standing down is William Graham, who has sat as an independent member for Hayton since 1995.

While on the authority he has also been the leader of the independent group.

He said that there were a number of reasons for him calling it a day. “I have been on the parish council for 40 years and the city council for 20 years,” he said.


William Graham “One of the reasons is because of family and another thing is the parish council has become more political.”

He cited a dispute he has had with the local body over a bus stop beside the A69 as one of the main reasons for him standing down.

Mr Graham though was clear about what his proudest achievement has been as a councillor - helping to get speed cameras installed at Corby Hill in a bid to slow down the heavy traffic which travels along that route.

He said: “I think the speed cameras are my biggest achievement, on the A69.

“They have slowed the traffic down through the villages and obviously a lot of people have been caught out. They have certainly quietened things down.”

Three people are vying to replace him in this ward: Keith Meller for the Conservatives, Richard Hunt for the Green Party and independent Raymond Tinnion.

Mr Graham remained tight-lipped about who he would be voting for.

“I am not going to say,” he joked.

The city council has 52 seats across 22 wards. Only 17 are up for election because the authority elects its members by thirds.

Currently, Labour holds 28 seats and runs the council while the Conservatives have 20 councillors.

In addition there are also three independents and one Liberal Democrat.

Ten of the seats which are up for election this year are held by Labour, five have Conservative members, one is held by a Liberal Democrat - Dalston, held by Trevor Allison - and Mr Graham’s Hayton seat.

To keep control of the city council Labour need to win nine seats.

BELAH: Paul Birks (Labour); Robert Charlesworth (Trade Unions and Socialists Against Cuts (TUSC)); Phil Douglass (Ukip); Penelope Foster (Green); David Morton (Conservative).

BELLE VUE: Robert Currie (Conservative); Les Tickner (Labour).

BOTCHERBY: Jeffrey Bomford (Independent); Lawrence Fisher (Conservative); Anne Glendinning (Labour); Henry Goodwin (Green).

BRAMPTON: David Brooks (Labour); John Harding (Ukip); Stephen Layden (Conservative); Olwyn Luckley (Liberal Democrat); Richard O’Brien (Green).

CASTLE: Melissa Andrews (Conservative); Manny Begum (Liberal Democrat); Joanna Coleman (Labour); Robert Reid-Sinclair (Ukip); Alan Simpson (Benjamin).

CURROCK: Helen Atkinson (Green); John Denholm (Ukip); Colin Glover (Labour); Brent Kennedy (TUSC); John Lishman (Conservative); Marjorie Richardson (Liberal Democrat).

DALSTON: Trevor Allison (Liberal Democrat); Robert Mitchell (Conservative); Ray Warwick (Labour).

DENTON HOLME: Ruth Alcroft (Labour); Neil Boothman (Green); Barbara Eden (Conservative); Grahame Higginson (TUSC); John Warmingham (Ukip).

GREAT CORBY AND GELTSDALE: Michael Gee (Liberal Democrat); Sky Higgins (Green); Alan McGuckin (Labour); Doreen Parsons (Conservative).

HARRABY: Philip Chappelhow (Ukip); Daniel Little (TUSC); Michael Randall (Conservative); Lee Sherriff (Labour).

HAYTON: Richard Hunt (Green); Keith Meller (Conservative); Raymond Tinnion (Independent).

MORTON: David Barton (TUSC); Fiona Mills (Ukip); Rob Morrison (Green); Peter Noble (Liberal Democrat); Therese Sidgwick (Labour); Charlotte Smallwood (Conservative).

ST AIDANS: Geoffrey Osborne (Conservative); David Parker (Ukip); Lucy Patrick (Labour); John Reardon (Green).

STANWIX URBAN: Helen Davison (Green); Brendan Murphy (Liberal Democrat); Paul Nedved (Conservative); Stephen Sidgwick (Labour).

UPPERBY: Shaidat Danmole-Ellis (Conservative); Christine Holliday (Ukip); Niall McNulty (Labour); James Osler (Liberal Democrat); Daniel Thorburn (TUSC).

WETHERAL: Annia Banks (Labour); Barry Earp (Conservative); Hazel Graham (Green); Geoff Round (Ukip); David Wood (Liberal Democrat).

YEWDALE: David Bradley (Green); Malcolm Craik (Ukip); Christina Finlayson (Conservative); Maureen McDonald (Labour).