David Herdson - Yorkshire Party - Ossett and Denby Dale

David Herdson is the deputy chair of the Yorkshire Party.

He works in IT and is a former councillor and school governor who lives with his wife and son in Crigglestone, near Wakefield.

Katharine Macy - Liberal Democrat - Colne Valley

Katharine Macy is the secretary of the Young Lib Dems and is currently studying for a PhD on autism in evolution.

They joined the party in 2017 and currently work for Lib Dem HQ part time in the campaigns team and have an interest in diversity, heritage and education.

Katie White - Labour - Leeds North West

Katie White was born and raised in Adel, in Leeds. After graduating from university she went on to work for Friends of the Earth and WWF-UK.

If elected she would be only the third female to have represented a parliamentary seat in Leeds, after Alice Bacon and Rachel Reeves.

Martin Hey - Green Party – Halifax

Martin Hey became the Green Party’s first councillor in Calderdale after being elected in 2022 to represent the Northowram and Shelf.

Born in Ovenden he now lives in Northowram and works as an accountant.

Sam Firth - Conservatives - Leeds East

Sam Firth is a Conservative councillor for the Harewood ward in Leeds. He was first elected in 2018.

He is a former family carer and works closely with community groups and partner organisations supporting local vulnerable residents.

Sarah Wood - Reform UK - Spen Valley

Sarah Wood was born in Halifax and has spent the past 21 years working as a chartered engineer.

She previously stood for the Brexit Party in Halifax in the 2019 general election.

Around 2.8 million people live across West Yorkshire, in Leeds, Bradford, Kirklees, Wakefield and Calderdale.

They are represented by 22 MPs at Westminster - including the Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

In recent general elections West Yorkshire has been seen as a key battle ground, with David Cameron and Theresa May choosing to launch their manifestos here. Boris Johnson also chose to make key policy pledges in the county and some of the parties' big hitters have been dispatched to try to win voters over in the past.

The Colne Valley and Keighley and Ilkley seats are often described as ‘bell-weather’ seats as they tend to return a representative of the same party that ends up forming the government.

At a local level, politically West Yorkshire is represented by one Labour Mayor and four Labour-run councils. While Labour lost overall control of Kirklees council in May’s local elections they do remain the largest party.

Issues likely to come up during today’s debate include immigration, the NHS and social care and trust in politicians.

Today's debate will be hosted by BBC Yorkshire political Editor James Vincent.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of today's West Yorkshire election debate.

Join us from 11:00 BST to hear from candidates standing across the region on behalf of the Conservatives, Green Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Yorkshire Party.