Health and Social Care Minister David Ashford has announced he wants to keep his House of Keys seat.

The Douglas North MHK has a high profile because of his role during the pandemic.

He says that the Quayle administration had faced a lot of challenges including the pandemic, Brexit, the VAT renegotiation and challenges to worldwide standards on beneficial ownership.

’The challenges of the next five years will be no less intense,’ he says in his statement announcing he is standing.

He says these include social care funding, affordable housing for young people and reform of the planning system.

His time as a minister has given him experience.

The other candidates in the constituency are fellow sitting member Ralph Peake; Kevin Oliphant Smith, who says he works for Manx Care, and John Wannenburg, the owner of the Sporting and Dining Club.