THE Labour Party has selected its candidate to contest the Richmondshire seat at the General Election.

Neil Foster was chosen by the Richmond Constituency Labour Party from a shortlist of five candidates at a recent meeting at Northallerton Town Hall.

Mr Foster, who has family in Hawes and Northallerton, was educated at Allertonshire School, Northallerton, and at Northallerton College, before reading politics at Sheffield University.

He said: "It is a privilege to be selected by Labour members to stand for election in an area I care deeply about.

"As someone who has grown up and worked around the Northallerton area, I know what a wonderfully strong sense of community there is and how much we have to offer the region and the country as a whole."

The candidate has worked within the voluntary and community sector on Tyneside, as a trade union steward with Unison and as a director of a public relations company which supported not-for-profit groups and good causes.

He gained political experience working for South Shields Labour MP David Miliband.

The current Richmondshire MP is former Conservative leader William Hague.