North Shropshire by-election 2021: The candidates standing

People in the constituency of North Shropshire will head to the polls on 16 December to elect an MP.

The vote follows the resignation of Conservative MP Owen Paterson, who was found to have breached parliamentary rules on lobbying.

Former cabinet minister Mr Paterson had held the constituency, a Tory stronghold, since 1997.

These are the candidates standing for election (listed alphabetically).

We invited all of them to film a one-minute manifesto, introducing themselves and setting out their policies in their own words. Twelve of the candidates supplied videos and you can watch them below:

Suzie Akers Smith is an independent councillor on Cheshire East Council and the local authority's Cycling and Walking Champion.

Former modern languages teacher Andrea Allen is a UKIP parish councillor and chair of Whitchurch Town Twinning Association.

Boris Been-Bunged is Boris Johnson impersonator Drew Galdron, standing on Rejoin EU's anti-Brexit ticket.

Martin Daubney represented the West Midlands in the European Parliament between 2019 and 2020 while a member of the Brexit Party.

Russell Dean, the founder of the Party Party, is a yacht salesman who grew up in Shropshire and now lives in Monaco.

James Elliot is an electrical contractor, standing for the Heritage Party.

Alan Hope has been the leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party since the death of its founder, Screaming Lord Sutch, in 1999.

Yolande Kenward founded the Patient Support Trust in 2000.

Duncan Kerr stood for the Green Party in the 2015 and 2017 elections and is a member of Shropshire Council.

Chartered accountant Helen Morgan, of Harmer Hill, in Shropshire, stood for the party in the 2019 general election.

Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst is a former British Army Medical Officer and honorary NHS consultant who now works as a barrister.

Kirsty Walmsley is a former Oswestry councillor and grew up just outside the town.

Ben Wood, from Oswestry, started his working life in a local hardware shop.

All candidates had to submit their completed nomination papers by 16:00 GMT on 19 November.

A deposit of £500 was also required which is returned if the candidate gets more than 5% of votes in the election.

Deadlines have now passed for new applications to vote and to register for a new postal vote.

Full rules for the by-election can be found here.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk