Meet the four who want to be your MP

Conservative Gregory Barker will defend a 10,503 majority against Labour, LibDem and UKIP candidates.

Others have until next Tuesday to declare their intent to stand.

Gregory Barker (Conservative)

"I have been proud to serve our community as your Member of Parliament. If re-elected, I will continue to champion our area and strive to help all local people regardless of Party affiliation.

I care passionately about Bexhill and Battle but I am also ambitious for Britain. More police, school discipline, cleaner hospitals, controlled immigration, lower taxes. These are common sense solutions to problems that effect all of us.

And locally, I have campaigned for better cancer services and safer roads, for more police to tackle local crime and to stop development on Bexhill's Putting Green.

I have fought rail cuts, GM crops, Post Office closures, defended mobile libraries and stood out against ill-conceived incinerator and landfill proposals. I will continue to defend the unique and special character of both Bexhill and our rural villages. There is so much more to do. I hope you can support me."

Michael Jones (Labour)

Michael Jones is 29 years old. He has lived in Sussex most of his life.

He obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Law from Southampton University, after which he returned to Sussex.

A qualified solicitor, he works for a firm in Chichester and specialises in pensions law.

He is governor at two schools in Sussex. He also attends meetings of the Bognor Regis Action Group which tackles deprivation and need.

This is his first campaign at a General Election as a candidate, although he has been a stalwart campaigner for Labour in Sussex for the past 10 years.

His political interests are the regeneration of coastal towns, the criminal justice system, constitutional affairs, local government and issues facing pensioners.

Mary Varrall (Lib Dem)

Mary, 52, was born and brought up in Evesham, Worcestershire, but has spent much of her life in the Ticehurst area of East Sussex.

She studied Business Studies at college and worked with solicitors in London and Bedford. In 1981 she moved to Etchingham with her husband and two children.

In 1992 she qualified in landscape management and now runs her own successful garden design business. She keeps fit by walking and cycling.

In her community work she has assisted with both the village playgroup and the youth group and served as school governor to Etchingham School. Under her chairmanship, the Parish Council has seen a refurbished hall, a new playground and the reopening of the village shop and is currently supporting a larger project in the village for a new school and village hall with playing fields and housing.

Mary stood as a district candidate in the 2003 local elections, narrowly missing election to Ticehurst and Etchingham ward. She has served on the Standards Committee of Rother District Council since its commencement in 2002.

With her two children now pursuing their own careers, Mary has more time to devote to others and is looking forward to working in the political field with all the challenges that it brings.

Tony Smith (UKIP)

Tony and wife, Dinty, have lived in Ashburnham since 1972. He spent more than 38 years in education teaching science and later as a head teacher. As Second Officer in the Navy he was awarded the NATO peace medal in 2000.

Tony is founder and chairman of the Brownbread Horse Rescue charity, a founder member of the 1066 Business Club, trustee of Battle District Council Voluntary Services and ESCC Countryside Access Forum member. He says: "Only UKIP can identify enough money to recruit more police, get clean hospitals, improve school discipline, control immigration and reduce taxes. UKIP has found the money saying; 36 million each day becomes available by leaving the EU and the bonus is that we get our Parliament back making our laws whereas now 70 per cent of our laws are made for us by Brussels bureaucrats."