DARLINGTON'S Conservative party candidate has promised to be a "constituency MP" if he is elected in May.

Edward Legard made his first public appearance of the General Election year at a question and answer session on Wednesday night.

Mr Legard plans a range of similar meetings around Darlington during the coming weeks to meet voters "face to face".

He told a modestly-attended meeting in the upstairs room of the Railway Athletic Club, Brinkburn Road, that he would put Darlington first.

Mr Legard said: "I fully intend to be a constituency MP and nothing more than that. There is no excuse not to be here (in Darlington) and to be seen."

Mr Legard, 43, was born in Scarborough and now lives in North Yorkshire where is a district councillor.

He told the audience that it did not matter if the MP lived in the town but it was essential to have connections in Darlington as well as the North-East.

Mr Legard, a barrister specialising in employment law representing workers across the North-East, was also asked if he would be seen more than Alan Milburn, the incumbent MP.

Mr Legard replied: "There is no question of that. It will difficult to see less of me than Alan Milburn. That will be true of anyone who is elected.

"As an MP, you should be at the centre of the town."

Mr Legard said he believed the key issues in Darlington were raising education standards, reduce the level of debt in the council to use money for services rather than interest repayment and tackling anti-social behaviour.

He was also asked about a range of issues by the audience, ranging from the number of MPs, soldiers' pay, benefits, immigration and the health service.

Whether he would vote to reduce the number of MPs, he said: "I would vote for that if it affected me personally or this constituency."

On benefits and the welfare system, he added: "That is a real concern. What we have under Labour is that we have created a dependency on welfare and benefits.

"That has to stop. What we need in its place is a Government that supports entrepreneurship and a culture of hard graft."

A former soldier, he added private soldiers should be paid more.

He also said immigration had "got out of control under Labour" and should be limited and controlled to the benefit of the country.

He also praised Darlington Memorial Hospital, its staff and foundation trust chief executive Stephen Eames but funding should be concentrated on more nurses and frontline equipment.