Thirteen Tory election nominations are 'invalid'

The 13 prospective Conservative candidates are no longer due to contest the elections at Castle Point Borough Council

Thirteen Conservative election candidates are no longer due to appear on ballot papers in May because of admin errors.

The Tory candidates' nominations for Castle Point Borough Council in Essex have been ruled as invalid.

The party are now due to field 22 candidates instead of 35 for the 39 seats on the council.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said it was down to "human error".

No other party or individual had an invalid nomination according to the full list of candidates published by the local authority.

A Conservative source said: "There has been a number of admin errors made at the last minute."

It is understood an old nominations form may have been used for the candidates' applications.

The Conservative spokesperson said: "Due to human error on nomination papers, 13 of the candidates are unable to stand in next month’s elections.

“We fully apologise to those candidates unable to stand and to the local people who will be unable to vote for a Conservative candidate in the upcoming elections."

Castle Point is in no overall control and is run by two local independent parties.

The Tories ran the local authority until May 2022, when they lost their majority.

Usually, Castle Point elects a third of its councillors every year there are elections, but this May every seat is up for grabs following changes to the boundaries.

Contesting parties will need to win at least 20 seats if they want to run the council with a majority.