Wyre and Preston North

New seat: Formed from the Thornton and Poulton-Le-Fylde area, and Garstang and its surroundings – both from Lancaster and Wyre, rural areas from Fylde and Ribble Valley and a vey small part of Preston.

Profile: A new seat that includes Preston`s comfortable northern suburb of Fulwood, but most of it is made up of quiet rural towns and villages to the north, places like Gastang and Bowgrave along the M6 and the villages of Over Wyre like Stalmine and Out Rawcliffe. To the west the seat takes in Thornton and Poulton-Le-Fylde near the Wyre estuary and Blackpool while eastwards it runs up into the moorlands of Bowland Fell.

This is natural Conservative territory with the second highest proportion of owner-occupiers of any seat in the country (after Castle Point) and is expected to be a rock-solid safe Conservative seat.

Current MP: Ben Wallace (Conservative) born 1970, Farnborough. Educated at Millfield School and Sandhurst. Former officer in the Scots Guard, seeing service in Northern Ireland and Central America, and director of Qinetiq. Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland Region between 1999 and 2003. Currently MP for the seat of Lancaster & Wyre, for which he was first elected in 2005.

2010 election candidates:
Ben Wallace (Conservative) born 1970, Farnborough. Educated at Millfield School and Sandhurst. Former officer in the Scots Guard, seeing service in Northern Ireland and Central America, and director of Qinetiq. Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland Region between 1999 and 2003. Currently MP for the seat of Lancaster & Wyre, for which he was first elected in 2005.
Cat Smith (Labour)
Danny Gallagher (Liberal Democrat) Preston councillor.
Nigel Cecil (UKIP)