Sevenoaks is seen as one of the safest Conservative seats, having been a stronghold constituency since 1885.

In that time, the Tories have represented the area, except for once during a one-year parliament in 1923 when the Liberal Party’s Ronald Williams won.

Since then, it has remained blue. Most recently, with Laura Trott who has served as Chief Secretary of the Treasury since last November.

Things could, however, be set to change come July 4. With Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour consistently ahead in the national polls, analysis by pollsters predict there’s a strong chance Ms Trott could be unseated by her Labour challenger, Denise Scott-McDonald.

After recent boundary changes, the former Dartford borough areas of Wilmington, Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley will be covered by Sevenoaks.

When the seat was last contested in 2019, Conservatives had a massive 60% majority with just under 31,000 votes. Liberal Democrat Gareth Wills was the closest to Ms Trott, with just 10,114 votes.

Despite the thumping victory, the vote showed a -3% swing from the previous election where Conservative Michael Fallon won back the seat he had been representing since 1997.

At the 2023 local elections, the Conservatives regained control of the council but lost 13 seats – dropping from 46 to 33. The Liberal Democrats were the biggest winners securing 14 seats at the local authority – 11 more than the 2019 election. Labour gained their first and only seat at the council.

Key issues in the area include the ongoing planning saga over proposals for a 28,000 seat rugby stadium for Wasps RFC at Farningham, near Swanley.

The club has suggested that Sevenoaks District Council allocate space for a new stadium in its new Local Plan which is now being prepared.

They say this could be either at Pedham Place, which is currently a golf course or at Peltham Court Farm, which is still agricultural land.

There have also been rival plans for a 2,500 garden city project.

If anyone is unsure about their voting arrangements, they can contact our friendly elections team with their queries.

To find out more visit www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/generalelection24 or call 01732 227000.

The candidates

The full list of candidates is as follows:

Richard Streatfeild (Lib Dem)

Adam Hibbert (SDP)

James Milmine (Reform UK)

Laura Manston (Green Party)

Laura Trott (Conservative)

Denise Scott-McDonald (Labour)

Elwyn Jones (Rejoin EU Party)