This is part of a series of articles. In the run-up to the election, we will be profiling all of Herefordshire's prospective parliamentary candidates. Here, we take a look at who is in the running for Labour.

Labour’s two candidates in Herefordshire are coming at the general election with a real belief the party can overcome its historic under-performance in the county.

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The party has failed to break 25 per cent in any general election of the past half-century in either North Herefordshire or Hereford and South Herefordshire, or in their pre-2010 equivalents Leominster and Hereford.

Even in Tony Blair’s historic 1997 Labour landslide, the party polled 17.5 per cent in Leominster and just 12.6 per cent in Hereford, coming third in both cases.

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Now though national pollsters put Labour as the main threat to Tory dominance in the county, with Survation even giving Labour’s Joe Emmett a slight lead over the Tory incumbent Jesse Norman in Hereford & South Herefordshire.

A teacher and community leader, Mr Emmett has for some years been the face of the party locally, organising events and speaking on its behalf, and recently ran the entire length of the river Wye to raise awareness about the environmental challenges it faces.

Red shift: prediction maps show a dramatic change among Herefordshire and its neighbours from YouGov's in early April, to Survation's this monthRed shift: prediction maps show a dramatic change among Herefordshire and its neighbours from YouGov's in early April, to Survation's this month (Image: YouGov / Survation)

“I am committed to advocating for improved public services, affordable and social housing, environmental sustainability and fair funding for our county,” he said.

In North Herefordshire meanwhile, Jon Browning faces a steeper challenge in taking on Sir Bill Wiggin – though even here Survation’s forecast victory margin for Sir Bill is barely 1 per cent.

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Having worked for government and international organisations in development and humanitarian emergency response for more than 20 years, Mr Browning was awarded an OBE in 2012.

“I’ve been a leader in setting up and managing free and fair elections in countries that have no such tradition, and I’ve come to see how important community engagement and elections are to democracy and good governance,” he said.

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“Now I want to contribute to democracy and good governance in my home county and bring my energy and expertise to advocate for my community.”

Among his campaign priorities are to improve access to GPs and dentists locally, to reduce “dental deserts” in the market towns, and to address issues in social care.

Elections take place on July 4 from 7am to 10pm. For the first time at a UK general election, voters are required to produce photo ID in order to vote.