THE UK Independence Party has selected a young father as its parliamentary candidate for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham.

John Leathley, from Stockton-on-Tees, says he will fight to improve the NHS by securing investment for front line services rather than management if he wins the Labour held seat in the general election.

The 23-year-old father-of-one has also pledged to stand with residents against The Isles wind farm, near Bradbury, while campaigning for other energy sources such as clean coal.

Mr Leathley, originally from Chester-le-Street, is studying primary education at Durham University and is regional chairman of Young Independence for the North-East.

He said he and other young people felt let down by Labour and the Conservatives, adding: “For more than half a decade the North-East has been a one party state where Labour has dominated almost unchallenged, I once trusted Labour and Tony Blair to secure our futures.

“They have failed to do so massively.

“I chose to stand in Sedgefield because it was largely Blair’s Labour who failed us from 1997 to 2010 and there was no better place to stand up for the people that have been let down than in the once Ex-Prime Minister’s seat.

“UKIP are the only party that can beat Labour in the north and we have already started to do so across many counties at local level.”