Battle lines drawn for Harrogate election which may have tightest result in decades

So well known are most of the arguments in the battle to be the next MP of Harrogate and Knaresborough that few of the punches launches by the two rivals widely regarded as the front runners appear to have landed with much force.

As someone who has won the seat in four successive General Elections since 2010, Conservative Party candidate Andrew Jones has been running on a “track record of local action our area since 2010”.

In particular, he has pointed to a series of “wins” on rail improvements, hospital investment and Bathing Water Status for the River Nidd to tackle sewage issues.

But Liberal Democrat Party candidate Tom Gordon dismisses the claims as just talk; sticking plasters for problems caused by Mr Jones’s own government.

He says many people in the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency remember its last Lib Dem MP, Phil Willis, and that, he Mr Gordon, will be the same sort of true local champion that his predecessor went on to become after his seismic win over former Chancellor Norman Lamont in the 1997 General Election.

If the source of the low key feel of the campaign can, perhaps, be laid at the thought this is really an election about the entire last 14 years rather than recent events and disasters, the waters are being muddied in Harrogate and Knaresborough by the input of a number of smaller parties.

Just how close is the result going to be here?

What impact Labour and the Green Party, joined by two independents and Reform UK, will have on the result come election day on Thursday, July 4, is difficult to predict.

At the last election in 2019, Conservative Andrew Jones won a whopping 52.6%, down by -2.9% on 2017 while the Lib Dems took 35.6%, a rise of 12.2%.

In 2015, the Labour Party won 10.1% of the vote in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

That rose to 20.1% in 2017 before falling back to 9.6% in 2019.

The Green Party achieved 4.4% in 2015 but didn't stand in either 2017 or 2019.

In 2019, the Yorkshire Party briefly joined the fray to take 2.1% before disappearing.

In the 2015 General Election, UKIP won 8.7% of the vote in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

The next two elections, it wasn’t involved at all.

This time round, a Reform UK candidate is on the ballot paper.

What difference will the presence of independent Paul Haslam, a Tory councillor until this year, who performed strongly in May’s election for Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, make to the outcome?

In this summer election called by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a surprise decision, only the voters know.

Harrogate and Knaresborough: Candidates

Andrew Jones (Conservative)

"Nationally, we see dreadful polls for the Government and a Labour Party seemingly heading for a super-majority the likes of which we have never seen.

"Locally it feels very different with polls suggesting a close result.

"After 14 years and four elections, I take a positive approach.

"No screaming headlines, no outrageous claims just laying out calmly what we have achieved as a community - direct London trains, investment at our hospital, in schools, green buses, more modern trains on our local line, stopping the Nidd Gorge relief road proposal, gaining bathing water status for the Nidd."

Tom Gordon (Lib Dem)

"Harrogate and Knaresborough is a fantastic place but we have been taken for granted by the Conservatives.

"After years of struggling to get GP and dental appointments, soaring rents and mortgages and our river being polluted by filthy sewage, it’s time for change.

"We need someone who really will be a strong voice for our community in Parliament.

"It’s clear only the Liberal Democrats can beat the Conservatives in Harrogate and Knaresborough but it is neck and neck and every vote will count."

Conrad Whitcroft (Labour)

“Things are changing. York and North Yorkshire now has a Labour mayor and I want to help change things for the better here.

"Harrogate and Knaresborough are great towns but they also share in problems that we are suffering from nationwide these days, such as water pollution, flooding and road congestion.

"The sewage problem in the Nidd is a scandal.

"Our previous MP hasn’t been a local champion of the sort the town deserves."

Shan Oakes (Green Party)

"I am desperately worried about what humans are doing to nature - and addressing the climate, nature and inequality crises.

"Green policy is about a value shift: a shift away from dog eat dog and profit being the driving force, towards fairness for all (including nature).

"Our rivers have become sewers because the water companies cream off profits to shareholders instead of investing in infrastructure.

"It’s the same with all the public services.”

Paul Haslam (Independent)

"I’m fed up with the lies and self-interest that dominate party politics.

"The cost of living is skyrocketing, inequality is rampant, and climate change is ignored.

"With a background as a CEO and management consultant specialising in delivering change, and over a decade as a dedicated councillor in Bilton, Harrogate, I have the experience to bring about meaningful improvements.

"We need trust, long-term thinking and a vision for a better life."

Jonathan Swales (Reform UK)

"I was born and raised in Harrogate and am a proud Yorkshireman.

"I can’t stand by any longer and watch our country, its cultures and values being destroyed by a combination of global entities and supine government that wish to turn the UK into a serfdom.

"We can push back against uncontrolled government spending and the highest level of taxation and borrowing in the last 70 years, push back on destructive policies like net zero and unlimited immigration."

Please note, Independent candidate Stephen Metcalfe has not been campaigning so far, apparently.