The Conservative Party in the North West has picked its eight candidates for the European Elections in May 2014.
Instead of choosing individual candidates as in other elections, electors will vote for a party. In the North West, eight MEPs will be elected proportionally from the number of party votes received.
In the recent internal party ballot to rank candidates, Jacqueline Foster MEP was ranked first and Sajjad Karim MEP was ranked second; they will be joined by six other Conservative candidates on the list:
(3) Kevin Beaty has a farm in Cumbria with 300 Jersey cows and runs a green waste composting business. He is also a councillor on Eden Disctrict Council.
(4) Deborah Dunleavy is a director of Peel Policy Forum and has also worked as an NHS director helping to improve patient safety.
(5) Joe Barker is a lawyer and a longstanding member of the Conservative Party.
(6) Daniel Hamilton’s is a partner in one of Europe’s largest regulatory and government relations firm.
(7) Chris Whiteside is the Chairman of Cumbria Area Conservatives and has been a district councillor, group leader and portfolio holder in the county.
(8) James Walsh is from Bolton and since 2009 has been a senior policy adviser on the EU and International Affairs for the National Association of Pension Funds.