A TRIO of independent candidates will stand to be the next MP for Braintree.

The Electoral Commission has now confirmed the full list of Parliamentary candidates for all 650 constituencies ahead of December's General Election.

Braintree district councillor and Halstead county councillor Jo Beavis is standing as an independent in Braintree.

She has the backing of the Green Party, which is not contesting the seat.

The other two independent candidates confirmed for Braintree are Alan Dorkins and David Mansell, who both live in the district.

Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly will be standing for re-election in the seat he first won in 2015, while Labour has put forward Joshua Garfield, a councillor for Stratford in London.

Dom Graham, a solicitor who works in Braintree and is a former Colchester councillor, has been selected as the Lib Dem candidate.

There were no new names put forward for the Witham constituency before last Thursday's deadline.

Home Secretary Priti Patel will be standing for re-election as the Conservative candidate once again, having been MP in the town since 2010.

She will be up against Labour's Martin Edobor, a NHS GP, and the Lib Dems' Sam North, who is a former police officer and current district councillor in North Hertfordshire.

Braintree district councillor and Witham North county councillor, James Abbott, completes the list of Witham candidates.

He will once again be standing for the Green Party, as he has done in previous elections dating as far back as 1992.

Residents are reminded they must register to vote before the deadline on November 26.

Polling stations will be open between 7am and 10pm on the day of the election, which is Thursday, December 12.

Counts for both the Braintree and Witham constituencies will take place at Tabor Academy in Panfield Lane, Braintree.

For more information about the General Election, visit braintree.gov.uk/info/200143/elections.