THE leader of Powys council’s Labour group and a former Brecon town councillor are among the candidates set to stand in the European elections.

Britain was supposed to have left the European Union at the end of March but with the Brexit process stalled until October 31 the country must take part in May’s elections to the European Parliament.

Among those selected as candidates are Brecon St John’s ward county councillor Matthew Dorrance, for Labour, and Sam Bennett for the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Bennett had been a Brecon town councillor from April 2015 to September last year when he stepped down as he had moved from Brecon to Swansea in connection with his work for Swansea University.

He had been the last remaining Liberal Democrat on the town council and the party failed to regain his seat. He also worked for former Brecon and Radnorshire Lib Dem MP Roger Williams and the constituency’s AM Kirsty Williams.

Cllr Dorrance is the leader of the Labour group on Powys county council and had stood as the party’s Brecon and Radnorshire candidate at the 2015 general election.

Four Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent Wales in the 751 member body and the seats are currently held by Labour, UKIP, the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru. The UK as a whole elects 73 MEPs.

The last elections were held in 2014 and since then Nathan Gill, who was elected for UKIP, has quit the party. He is expected to stand for Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party.

Seats are awarded using a proportional system and parties nominate their candidates on a list basis. The greater share of the vote a party receives the more seats it wins and since the 2009 elections no party has won more than two seats in Wales.

That means Cllr Dorrance will need to see a significant rise in support for Labour for him to swap Powys County Hall for the European Parliament’s twin sites in Brussels and Strasbourg as he is second on the Labour list.

Jackie Jones is top of the list and most likely to succeed its current MEP Derek Vaughan who has announced he is stepping down and not seeking reelection. Mary Wimbury and Mark Whitcutt are the party’s third and fourth choice candidates.

Mr Bennett is the top of the Lib Dem list but the party has never won a European seat in Wales. Donna Lalek, Alistair Cameron and Andrew Parkhurst complete the party’s list.

Plaid Cymru’s current MEP Jill Evans tops the party list with Carmen Smith and Patrick McGuinness while Ioan Bellin, who works for the party’s Mid and West Wales AM Helen Mary Jones, is its fourth choice candidate.

Also expected to step down is Conservative MEP Kay Swinburne but the party has yet to announce its candidates.

Change UK, the party formed by breakaway centerist Labour and Conservative MPs, have also announced four candidates with former Labour MP Jon Owen Jones topping its list that also includes June Davies, Mathew Paul and Sally Stephenson.

The Green Party has announced Anthony Slaughter, Ian Chandler, Ceri Davies and Duncan Rees as its candidates. Third choice candidate Mr Davies, who lives in Cardiff, grew up in Hay-on-Wye and attended Gwernyfed High School in Three Cocks.

UKIP’s candidates are Kris Hicks and Keith Edwards.

The elections will take place in the UK on Thursday, May 23, with the results announced on Sunday across Europe, and citizens of other EU countries are allowed to vote.

To register to vote in the elections you must do so by Tuesday, May 7 and you can do so by following the link below

or to register in Welsh follow this link