Polling cards should be dropping through letter boxes across Swindon and Wiltshire for the European parliament elections.

They are scheduled to beheld in the UK on Thursday May 23, although if prime minister Theresa May manages to get Parliament to agree to her withdrawal agreement for the EU by the day before, they could be called off with as little as 24 hours' notice.

While parties across the south west England region, which encompasses Swindon and Wiltshire are in various stages of readiness, the people responsible to managing the elections say they are ready.

A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council says the team has plenty of experience, and it is sorting out polling stations across the borough.

And whether elections go ahead or not, it won’t cost Swindon’s any of the council tax paid by residents. While the authority bears the costs upfront, it is reimbursed by central government for the time and work, and expects to be so again.

One variant on previous years is that voters will be asked to go to the polls twice in the same month.

In previous EU election years, a legislation has been made in Westminster to delay local elections so they can coincide with European Parliament elections.

Since the referendum in June 2016 which decided the UK was to leave the EU no such legislation was presented, meaning voters may have a sense of deja vu as they go again to school halls and community centres to cast their votes.

Swindon has been at the centre of one of the more controversial candidate’s announcements. Carl Benjamin, has been adopted by UKIP as a candidate.

Mr Benjamin, who lives in Swindon, has had to defend a tweet he made to Labour MP Jess Phillips where he said he “wouldn’t even rape” her. He said that Ms Phillips had acted as a “giant bitch”, which justified his response.

The chairman of Swindon UKIP branch Aubrey Attwater told the Adver last week he thought Mr Benjamin should be deselected.

One of the region’s MEPs has already experienced that. Julie Girling, a member since 2010, was expelled from the Conservative Party last year for her remainer stance.

She has declined to stand and said: “I would encourage my supporters to vote for candidates who have a proven record in the European Parliament and represent a party with a clear pro second referendum pledge.”

The Conservative’s sitting MEP Ashley Fox heads up the party list for the south west.

Claire Moody,who is the Labour MEP also heads the party list as does the Green’s MEP Molly Scott Cato. Two MEPS elected for UKIP in 2014, Julia Reid and William Dartmouth have both since left the party. It is not known if they will stand, Ms Reid has now joined Nigel Farage's Brexit Party.

The Liberal Democrats have a full six-member list and Rachel Johnson, sister of former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson heads the Change UK list for the south west.