BRITAIN will go to the polls this Thursday, May 23, for the European parliamentary elections.

The government admitted that the UK would have to take part in the elections after it became clear that Brexit would not be delivered in time to avoid it.

How does it work?

The South West has 6 MEP (Member of European Parliament) seats available.

The elections use the complicated D’Hondt formula, which calculates how many seats should be allocated to each party based on vote share.

If Party A is given four seats, the top four candidates on its list are elected.

Swindon Advertiser:

Who can I vote for?

See the full list of candidates, listed by party.

This election sees the emergence of two new parties. 

Breakaway party Change UK has six candidates, after it was started by a group of anti-Brexit MPs who left Labour and the Conservatives and formed as the Independent group earlier this year. 

Nigel Farage's new Brexit party also fields six candidates, having been started by the former UKIP leader in April.

Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the Green Party are also constesting the election, as well as three independents. 

THE FULL LIST

Change UK

  • Rachel Johnson
  • Jim Godfrey
  • Ollie Middleton
  • Matthew Hooberman
  • Liz Sewell
  • Crispin Hunt

Conservative

  • Ashley Fox
  • James Mustoe
  • Faye Purbrick
  • Claire Hiscott
  • James Taghdissian
  • Emmeline Owens
  • English Democrats
  • Jenny Knight
  • Michael Blundell

Green

  • Molly Scott Cato
  • Cleo Lake
  • Carla Denyer
  • Tom Scott
  • Martin Dimery
  • Karen La Borde

Labour

  • Clare Moody
  • Lord Andrew Adonis
  • Jayne Kirkham
  • Neil Guild
  • Yvonne Atkinson
  • Sadik Al-Hassan

Liberal Democrats

  • Caroline Voaden
  • Martin Horwood
  • Stephen Williams
  • Eleanor Rylance
  • David Chalmers
  • Luke Stagnetto

The Brexit Party

  • Ann Widdecombe
  • James Glancy
  • Christina Jordan
  • Ann Tarr
  • Roger Lane-Nott
  • Nicola Darke

UKIP

  • Lawrence Webb
  • Carl Benjamin
  • Tony McIntyre
  • Lester Taylor
  • Stephen Lee
  • Alison Sheridan

Independent

  • Larch Maxey
  • Mothiur Rahman
  • Neville Seed