Conservatives are out in force for Shropshire Council elections

A total of 64 Conservative candidates are standing, with a further seven guaranteed seats on the authority by standing in uncontested divisions.

The Liberal Democrats have put forward 37 candidates, with Labour fielding 35 and UKIP putting up 29. There are 19 independent candidates, nine from the Green Party and five from the BNP.

Six divisions will go unchallenged, leaving 22,000 people in the county without a vote and leading to criticism from the Electoral Reform Society.

Keith Barrow, leader of the Conservative Group on Shropshire Council, said: "We are putting up candidates in practically every seat. Where we don't have a candidate, there was somebody selected but they either fell ill or couldn't take part for another reason. All things being equal we would have contested every seat.

"We have done our bit and we did the same four years ago. Perhaps in some areas people just think: 'I've got a really good councillor, why would I want to stand against them?'.

"I think if you've got a good councillor who is doing the work in your community party politics almost goes out of the window."

In 2009 UKIP fielded just three candidates. Peter Lewis, chairman of the Shrewsbury and Atcham branch of UKIP, said: "You can regard our activities as a work in progress.

"A year or so back we were quite a small party with a hardcore of supporters, but over the last year or so there has been a huge growth in support. I think other parties would love to have the buzz that we have got about us."

Mr Lewis said he could not put the rise in support for UKIP down to any one factor, but believed the crisis in the eurozone, coupled with the media presence of UKIP leader Nigel Farage, had had a big impact.

In 2009, the Lib Dems put forward 46 candidates. This time the party has just 37. Group leader Nigel Hartin said: "We took the decision that we needed to target the areas where we had a chance of winning. We don't have the resources to fight in those areas where we don't have a good chance.

"We start from a point where we have 14 councillors. We have got good councillors and good candidates, who we sincerely hope will win." Councillor Hartin said criticism of the Lib Dems nationally had not damaged support at a grass roots level. He said: "Lib Dem councillors will work hard for people on the ground and people recognise that. I am impressed by the ability of people to recognise that this is an election for Shropshire Council."

Alan Moseley, Labour group leader on Shropshire Council, said: "We have substantially increased our presence from 2009, when we fielded 29 candidates and this reflects the morale with the party.

"We took the decision to concentrate our resources, both in terms of personnel and finance, on seats we believe we have a good chance of winning, particularly in Shrewsbury and Atcham where we have candidates in 22 of the 24 seats and are also fighting all 17 Shrewsbury Town Council seats."