Stoke by-election: Who are the candidates to replace Tristram Hunt?

All eyes are on Stoke-on-Trent, where a hotly contested by-election is to take place on 23 February following Tristram Hunt's announcement last month that he was standing down as MP for Stoke Central to become director of the V&A Museum in London.

Hunt has been a controversial representative for the industrial Midlands city since he was announced as the Labour candidate in the 2010 general elections, with activists accusing the party of "parachuting" the Cambridge-born academic into a city he neither knew nor understood.

This time around, the local party has opted for former Newcastle-under-Lyme council leader Gareth Snell in the hope that the native son can ward off the Ukip threat and convince the electorate to stay red.

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Despite Stoke Central being a safe Labour seat since its creation in 1950, Ukip made substantial gains in the 2015 election. It is fielding new party leader Paul Nuttall as its candidate in an all-in attempt to prove the party is still an electoral force.

So who are the candidates in the running to replace Hunt?

Labour: Gareth Snell

Favourite Snell found himself in trouble this week over Coronation Street, of all things, after a 2011 tweet surgace in which he said the soap's Deirdre Barlow deserved a "good slap". He apologised after domestic abuse activists complained.

Nevertheless, in another tweet in September, he branded Brexit "a pile of s***", which might not help him win over a seat that voted overwhelmingly to Leave.

Ukip: Paul Nuttall

With its Brexit goal accomplished and still only one MP in the House of Commons, Ukip is throwing all its weight behind Nuttall. Failure to get its leader elected to Westminster could condemn the party to electoral irrelevance.

But the battle to flip Stoke Central took a knock when Nuttall was accused of listing a Stoke address on his nomination papers before actually moving to the city, followed by questions over his claims to have been at the Hillsborough disaster.

Nuttall said only the "scum of the earth" would say he was lying about witnessing Hillsborough and dismissed allegations that giving a future address was a violation of Electoral Commission rules.

Conservative: Jack Brereton

The Tories came in third place to Ukip in 2015 and the chances of Stoke Central going blue are close to non-existent, but with Ukip's pre-referendum momentum now expended, the Conservatives will be hoping to at least come in second place.

Liberal Democrat: Zulfiqar Ali

After coming second place in Stoke Central in the 2005 and 2010 elections, the Lib Dems lost support in 2015, when Zulfiqar Ali came in fifth place. However, grassroots activists across the country have been invigorated by the surprise election of Sarah Olney, who more than doubled the party's vote share to defeat Zac Goldsmith in December's Richmond Park by-election.

That said, Lib Dem candidate Ali will struggle to capitalise on the party's Europhile credentials in the way Olney did in south-west London – the city voted to leave the EU by 80 per cent to 20 per cent, making it the "Brexit capital of the country", according to the Stoke Sentinel.

The other candidates include:

Mohammed Yaqub Akram - Independent

The Incredible Flying Brick - Official Monster Raving Loony Party

Adam Colclough - Green Party

Godfrey Davies - Christian Peoples Alliance

Barbara Fielding - Independent

David Furness - British National Party Local People First