Four candidates were nominated. The list below is set out in descending order of the number of votes received at the by-election. 1. The Liberal Party candidate was
David Austick. He was a bookseller and a West Yorkshire County Councillor. Austick was born on 8 March 1920 and died on 9 February 1997. Austick won the by-election, in a seat in which his party had finished third in the 1970 general election. He lost the constituency to the Conservatives in the
February 1974 general election. Austick subsequently contested Ripon in October 1974 and
Cheadle in 1979. He also contested the Leeds constituency for the European Parliament, in the election of 1979. 2. The Conservative candidate was
Keith Hampson, born on 14 August 1943. He was a former assistant to the Conservative Prime Minister,
Edward Heath and a university lecturer. After losing the by-election, Hampson was the successful Conservative candidate who re-gained the seat in February 1974. The Ripon constituency was abolished for the
1983 general election, and Hampson was then elected for
Leeds North West. At the
1997 general election he was defeated by
Labour candidate
Harold Best. 3. Representing the Labour Party was D.M. English, who also contested the seat in February 1974. 4. R.E.G. Simmerson, the Chairman of a body called
Democratic Conservatives Against the Common Market, contested the by-election. Craig classified him as an Independent Conservative candidate. == Result ==