PAUL English will take on long-standing Skipton and Ripon MP David Curry at the forthcoming General Election.

The Liberal Democrats have picked Mr English as their best chance of stealing the seat from Mr Curry - a seat he has held since 1987.

Mr English, 36, is the first Craven-based candidate to fight for a place in the Commons since Liberal Democrat Claire Brooks in 1983.

He said of his rival: "He is a very good constituency MP and he has similar views to me on Europe."

Mr English described himself as a conservative Liberal and Mr Curry as a liberal Conservative.

He told the Herald that when he was passed as a potential candidate for the General Election he had the choice of fighting in another area with a more marginal seat.

Instead Mr English chose to fight on his own doorstep, even though he recognises it will be a tough task to de-seat Mr Curry, who won twice as many votes as his nearest rival at the 2001 election.

But Mr English said: "He's coming to the end of his political career and maybe it's time for a new generation to take over."

Born in Bootle, Liverpool, Mr English came to Skipton in 1994. He is married to fellow Craven district councillor Polly English.

He started his political career locally with the town council in 1997 and was elected to Craven District Council in 1999. Three years later he became leader of the Liberal Democrats in Craven. Between 2003 and 2004 he was the youngest ever mayor of Skipton.

Mr Curry was elected to Westminster as Skipton and Ripon MP in 1987. He has since served as a Minister of State and a Shadow Secretary of State.

He told the Herald that he wished his opponents everything except winning and urged all candidates to conduct a clean campaign focusing on local issues.

Mr Curry said as the other parties had not announced candidates until now, he believed the seat was not classed as a target. "I intend to fight the seat as if it was marginal," he said.

The Labour party has also announced its candidate for the General Election - secondary school teacher Paul Baptie, 37. He has been a teacher for 12 years and has a masters degree in economics and politics.

Mr Baptie, who lives in Easingwold, told the Herald he believed he had an excellent chance of being elected. He explained that if voters considered the changes brought in under the Labour Government they would realise that problems such as shortages of teachers had improved.

"I would ask voters to keep an open mind and look at the record of the Government."

Mr Baptie was selected out of three possible candidates and has previously stood as a parliamentary candidate in Warwickshire.

So far the UK Independence Party and the Green Party have not said whether they will field a candidate.