Voters across Stevenage and North Hertfordshire will elect their new MPs at a general election on Thursday, July 4.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the date for the election in a Downing Street speech this afternoon.

In Comet country, Conservative MPs Stephen McPartland (Stevenage) and Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) have already announced that they will be stepping down at the election.

Bim Afolami, Conservative MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, will be standing for re-election in the Hitchin constituency that has been created following boundary changes.

He will be up against Chris Lucas, the Liberal Democrat candidate, and Alistair Strathern, currently Labour MP for Mid Bedfordshire. Mr Strathern lives in Shefford, which is currently part of Mid Beds but will be part of the Hitchin constituency following boundary changes.

In Stevenage, Alex Clarkson will seek to retain the constituency for the Conservatives, while Kevin Bonavia is Labour's candidate.

In North East Hertfordshire, the Conservatives and Labour have not yet selected their candidates. Labour members will be choosing between councillors Chris Hinchliff and Alistair Willoughby, who were the two people to make the internal shortlist. The Liberal Democrats have chosen Ruth Brown as their candidate.

The BBC's latest 'poll of polls', based on national polling data, suggests that if a general election were to be held tomorrow, Labour would receive 44 per cent of the vote, with 23 per cent for the Conservatives, 11 per cent for Reform UK, ten per cent for the Liberal Democrats, and seven per cent for the Greens.

Confirmed parliamentary candidates in North Hertfordshire

Stevenage

Conservative - Alex Clarkson

Green - Paul Dawson

Labour - Kevin Bonavia

Liberal Democrats - Lisa Nash

Reform UK - Peter Hopper

Hitchin

Conservative - Bim Afolami

Green - Will Lavin

Labour - Alistair Strathern

Liberal Democrats - Chris Lucas

North East Hertfordshire

Green - Vicky Burt

Liberal Democrats - Ruth Brown

Reform UK - Steven Adelantado