THE General Election campaign is fully underway and candidates are rallying for all the votes they can get on polling day, Thursday, May 7.

In Central Devon the candidates are: John Conway (UKIP), Arthur Price (Indendent), Lynne Richards (Labour), Mel Stride (Conservative), Alex White (Liberal Democrats) and Andy Williamson (Green).

Tiverton and Honiton: Paul Edwards (Green), Stephen Kearney (Liberal Democrats), Caroline Kolek (Labour), Neil Parish (Conservative) and Graham Smith (UKIP).

North Devon: Robert Cann (Labour), Steve Crowther (UKIP), Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrats), Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative), Ricky Knight (Green) and Gerrard Sables (Communist).

Torridge and West Devon: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative), Paula Dolphin (Liberal Democrats), Derek Sargent (UKIP), Cathrine Simmons (Green) and Mike Sparling (Labour).

East Devon: Andrew Chapman (UKIP), Stuart Mole (Liberal Democrats), Stephen Race (Labour), Hugo Swire (Conservative) and Claire Wright (Independent).

In 2010 Mel Stride took more than 50 per cent of the vote, achieving 27,737, ahead of Liberal Democrat Philip Hutty, who achieved 18,507 votes. Moira Macdonald (Labour) achieved 3,715, Bob Edwards (UKIP) took 2,870 and Colin Matthews (Green) 1,044.

Mr Stride's seat has been said to be one of the safest seats in the country, at the heart of the Tory Devon shires, similarly with Neil Parish in Tiverton and Honiton where Mr Parish also achieved more than 50 per cent of the vote in 2010.

Alex White, aged 22, is one of the youngest candidates to stand in a General Election in the South West.

Voters will find, in most areas, that they will also be asked to vote for a candidate or candidates in their district council elections and in some cases, for parish councillors as well.

In Crediton, there were insufficient candidates in the town council elections and therefore voters will only have to vote for a General Election candidate and two Mid Devon District Council candidates.

USE YOUR VOTE

If you still have not registered to vote, you should hurry to do so.

The deadline is Monday, April 20, but if you wish to vote by post, the last date to register is Tuesday, April 21.

If you are not in the area on polling day, you can vote by proxy, which means you can get someone else to cast your vote.

The deadline for applications to vote this way closes on Tuesday, April 28, with polling day on Thursday, May 7.