LABOUR has announced its parliamentary candidate for the Eastleigh constituency.

Full time cashier at one of the banks in Eastleigh, Jill Payne will run for the general election next month in a bid to become the new Eastleigh MP.

Ms Payne, above, has lived and worked in the town for the past 11 years.

A supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and socialist policies, she said: “Locally I am working very hard with my Labour colleagues to get represented at county and borough levels in order to celebrate and unite our increasingly diverse communities and to promote social justice and environmental issues in all areas of local policy making.”

Ms Payne decided to become involved locally after the 2015 general election.

She is now standing against Liberal Democrats candidate Mike Thornton, Conservative Mims Davies and Green Party candidate Ron Meldrum.

Mr Thornton was defeated by Mims Davies in the last general election in 2015 and he is now back in the political fold after having won the county election as representative for the Bishoptstoke and Fair Oak ward.

Conservative Mims Davies, who has been Eastleigh MP for the past two years, is now running to hold her seat.

Her victory in 2015 marked a significant change in the Eastleigh political landscape.

It was with her victory that Conservatives reclaimed Eastleigh from the Liberal Democrats after more than 20 years since they last held the seat.

Meanwhile, electronics engineer Ron Meldrum is the Green Party candidate fighting Eastleigh.

He stood as a Green Party candidate in the Southampton local elections in the last five years.

He supports local communities and is an amateur musician.

MEANWHILE UKIP have decided not to field any candidates in either of the two New Forest parliamentary constituencies.

A party spokesperson said: “UKIP haven’t got any candidates for the two New Forest constituencies for the upcoming general election so we aren’t putting any forward.”

In 2015 Ukip’s Roy Swales for polled 17.5 per cent of the vote in New Forest East and Paul Bailey 16.5 per cent in New Forest West.