THE UK Independence Party is going all-out to secure their first ever Dorset County Council seat at next month’s elections – fielding more candidates than the Liberal Democrats.

Nominations for the elections on Thursday, May 2 closed yesterday when it was confirmed that the Conservatives and Labour are standing in every single ward, closely followed by UKIP, who will have candidates in 35 out of the 42 wards.

The party is high in confidence after coming second in the Eastleigh by-election and will be hoping to pile more pressure on the coalition Government – and the Conservatives in particular – by performing well in Dorset.

Both the Conservatives and the Labour Party are fielding 45 candidates, UKIP 38 and the Liberal Democrats 32. There are 17 Green Party candidates, 6 Independents and one from the United People’s Party.

The British National Party attempted to field two candidates, one in Lytchett and one in Wareham, but in one case the nomination was deemed invalid and in the other it was withdrawn.

The county council is made up 45 elected members across 42 divisions in Dorset.

It is already clear there will be several new faces on the county council as 11 current councillors have decided not to stand again.

These include David Budd, Angus Campbell and Alan Griffiths.

Rollo Reid, of UKIP’s Christchurch branch, said there were numerous reasons why they had decided to put up so many candidates.

“We want to win seats at general elections in order to see politics the way we think most people want but we know we cannot waltz into Westminster without putting in the effort at local level,” he said.

A full list of all 188 candidates is available at www.dorsetforyou.com.