A FORMER North Yorkshire councillor has been selected to contest a parliamentary seat in the West Midlands.

Wendy Morton has been chosen as the Tory candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Aldridge-Brownhills, near Walsall.

Mrs Morton, a farmer's daughter from Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, has previously served on Richmondshire District Council.

She stood for the Tories in Newcastle Central in 2005, where she finished third, and in 2010, when she contested Tynemouth and finished second.

She is a Conservative vice chair with responsibility for social action.

This year, she had hoped to contest the Richmond seat following the decision by William Hague to stand down, but lost out in the local selection process to Rishi Sunak.

Mrs Morton beat three other shortlisted candidates including a local councillor during a behind closed doors meeting on Thursday night.

Commenting on Twitter after the result she said: Delighted and privileged to have been selected yesterday evening as Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Aldridge Brownhills."

Aldridge-Brownhills had a Tory majority of 15,256 votes at the 2010 election. The seat has been held by Sir Richard Shepherd for 36 years.