General Election called - Shropshire constituencies that will be key battlegrounds

Shropshire and Mid-Wales will be key battlegrounds as the Tories attempt to maintain their hold on the region.

Following the 2019 General Election that saw Boris Johnson romp to victory with an 80 seat majority, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid-Wales were all left true blue.

However, the Tories were to face upset in 2021 when they lost the constituency of North Shropshire to the Liberal Democrats when Helen Morgan won a by-election following the resignation of Owen Paterson - he stepped down after the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found he had breached paid advocacy rules.

While Ms Morgan will be keen to keep hold of her seat for the Lib Dems after the 31 per cent swing enjoyed by the party at the by-election, the Conservatives will be keen to win it back with their candidate Simon Baynes.

Mr Baynes is currently the MP for Clwyd South in mid-Wales, but that constituency is being abolished due to boundary changes.

Other constituency changes have seen the Ludlow seat, occupied by Tory MP Philip Dunne since 2005, expanded with a name change to South Shropshire.

Mr Dunne has declared he is to step down at the General Election so won't be defending the South Shropshire seat. Instead, Wolverhampton South West MP Stuart Anderson is hoping to retain the seat for the Tories but is set to face a tough challenge from former Lib Dem MP Matthew Green.

Labour has set its sights on the new Shrewsbury seat, renamed from Shrewsbury and Atcham, which is currently held by Conservative Daniel Kawczynski.

Labour councillor for Bridgnorth, Julia Buckley, is be hoping to at least make some in-roads on Mr Kawczynski's 11,217 seat majority. Shropshire Councillor Alex Wagner will also be hoping to make some gains in the constituency for his party, the Liberal Democrats.

Another hotly contested seat in the county will be the Telford constituency.

Incumbent Tory MP Lucy Allan has announced she too is stepping down at the General Election and the current Labour leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, Shaun Davies, has his eyes set on becoming the constituency's new MP.

He will face Tory prospective candidate Hannah Campbell as well as Anthony Lowe for the Lib Dems.

The Tories' seats are not only being targeted by Labour, Lib Dems and also the Greens, but fellow right wing party, Reform, are also fielding a number of candidates in Shropshire and Mid-Wales that could see the Tory vote split in a number of key areas.

Perhaps the safest seat for the Tories in Shropshire is the Wrekin. It is currently held by Mark Pritchard but the other parties will be confident they can put a dent in his current 18,726 seat majority considering the Conservative's current polling numbers.

Over in mid-Wales, the Tories will be keen to hang on to Montgomeryshire, which has been expanded to create the new Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr constituency. Incumbent Craig Williams will want to keep as much of his 12,000 seat majority as he can.

Meanwhile, Fay Jones will also be hoping to retain Brecon and Radnorshire for the Tories but she may face a tough task to retain her 7,000 seat majority in the wake of falling poll numbers.