The low down on the runners and riders for the Stirling constituency

The two main contenders in the Stirling constituency fight, the Conservatives and SNP, had candidates in place weeks in advance of last week’s general election announcement.

The Conservatives held the seat throughout the 1980s and up until the Labour General Election victory of 1997.

The SNP took the seat from Labour in the election of 2015, but the Tories took it back in June 2017.

Nominations close on Thursday November 14. Candidates standing so far are:

CONSERVATIVE, STEPHEN KERR Current MP Mr Kerr holds the Stirling seat with a majority of 148.

Dundee-born Mr Kerr moved to Stirling in 1982 as a student. He is married with four children and lives in Stirling.

Before entering parliament he worked as a sales leader for Kimberley-Clark Professional.

SNP, ALYN SMITH

Mr Smith has been a Scotland MEP for 15 years. Born in Glasgow, he currently lives in Edinburgh.

He studied law and European law at the University of Leeds and qualified as a lawyer with London commercial law firm Clifford Chance.

If elected in Stirling he will stand down as MEP to be be replaced in Brussels by the next placed SNP European candidate. LIBERAL DEMOCRAT, FAYZAN REHMAN

Mr Rehman lives and works in Stirling, designing and delivering IT solutions for both government and private clients. He is married with four children.

In 2018 he finished the Stirling Marathon and raised funds for Unique, a charity supporting families living with very rare chromosome disorders.

GREEN, BRYAN QUINN

Mr Quinn was born and raised in Clackmannanshire, where he currently lives with his wife Cara and two young children Roman (9) and Logan (6).

He graduated with a first class honours degree in psychology from Stirling University and last year completed a postgraduate qualification in behavioural finance. Since graduating Mr Quinn has been working in financial services.

He previously ran in the 2017 Clacks Council election for the Scottish Green party in Clackmannanshire where he narrowly missed out on becoming the first Green councillor in the council.

LABOUR

As of yesterday (Tuesday) Labour did not have a candidate in place for the Stirling constituency.