LABOUR has selected the party’s candidate to become MP for New Forest East.

Southampton city councillor Andrew Pope will battle incumbent Conservative MP Julian Lewis at the 2015 general election.

Cllr Pope, who represents Southampton’s Redbridge ward, was selected at a meeting of the New Forest East Labour Party on Tuesday.

He is the chairman of the Hampshire Co-Operative Party and leads Labour councillors on the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

Elected as a city councillor in May 2011, he campaigned against the “blacklisting” of workers from public contracts and for the introduction of the Living Wage.

He said: “I’m delighted and honoured to have been selected by our members. I am confident we can continue to build a winning team that can increase Labour representation in the area.”