The race is on the win votes after election called

Wakefield Labour MP Mary Creagh launched her bid to be re-elected to the seat with an event attended by the former party leader Ed Miliband.

Also standing for Labour are Yvette Cooper in the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford constituency and Jon Trickett in the Hemsworth constituency.

Conservative Andrea Jenkyns, who ousted Labour’s Ed Balls at the last election, is running for re-election to the Morley and Outwood seat. All the prospective MPs standing will be announced by Friday, May 12.

The Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, has been more than 20 points behind the Conservatives in the polls.

Prime Minister Theresa May called the election last week, saying it was needed after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

It put political parties in a rush to get candidates in place after Ms May first said a general election would not happen until 2020.

Wakefield Council urged people to make sure they are registered to vote by the May 22 deadline.

Andy Wallhead, the council’s electoral registration officer, said: “There’s less than a month to go to make sure you are registered, so do it as soon as possible to make sure you don’t miss out on having your say on polling day.”

People who have recently moved house or changed personal details like their surname might not be registered correctly.

They can contact the council’s Electoral Services team by calling 01924 305023 or e-mail [email protected]

To register to vote log on to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote