THE names of the candidates for the two town council ward by elections have been made public.

In Ross-on-Wye East there are four candidates: Cathy Bevan, Labour; Maggie Kilcar, independent; Richard McEvoy, Reform UK and Emma Vigus, Liberal Democrats.

For the Ross West ward there are three candidates: Saskia Harrison, independent; Andrew Steel, Liberal Democrats and Matt Symonds, Reform UK.

The vacancies had arisen following the resignations in May of this year of Cllr Rob Taylor (Ross West) and Cllr Corina Lodea (Ross East).

Until the by-election is held on Thursday, August 14, candidates will be out and about informing their community what is important to them and what they hope to influence in the future should they win the seat.

Meanwhile South Herefordshire is among constituencies that could be swung by 16- and 17-year-olds at the next general election, following the government’s announcement last week of its plans to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 in time for the General Election, which is due to take place by 2029, but could be called earlier than this.

The minimum voting age is already 16 for local council elections in Scotland and Wales, and elections to the Senedd and Scottish Parliament.

The current Conservative MP for the seat Jesse Norman saw off his Labour challenger by just 1,279 votes at the last general election a year ago.

But official figures published by the House of Commons Library shows there are currently 2,016 young people aged 16 and 17 in the constituency.

Meanwhile in North Herefordshire, a constituency that includes the area north of Brampton Abbotts, Green MP Ellie Chowns, currently campaigning to become joint leader of the party nationally, said on social media: “On this one, Labour have got it right: votes at 16 is long overdue.”

With a majority of 5,894 over the Conservatives a year ago, compared to 1,884 16- and 17-year-olds in the constituency, she would appear to be less impacted by the change.

In both constituencies, young people in this range make up just over two per cent of the population, slightly below the national average.

Meanwhile a seat-by-seat analysis by Stats for Lefties based on the polling this week by Find Out Now predicts that if a general election were held now, South Herefordshire would likely fall to Reform UK, which would gain an outright majority in Parliament.

The analysis also predicts that Dr Chowns would retain her North Herefordshire seat for the Greens, who would gain a further six seats nationally, Stats for Lefties said.

Lowering the voting age to 16 across the UK would be the biggest change to the electoral system since it was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1969.

A pledge to lower the voting age to 16 was included in Labour's election manifesto but it did not feature in last summer's King's Speech, which sets out the government's priorities for the months ahead.

Among the other plans set out by the government are expanding the list of accepted ID to vote in Great Britain to UK-issued bank cards.