A SOUTHAMPTON city councillor is set to run for Parliament.

Children’s safety boss Cllr Mark Chaloner, right, will contest Winchester and Chandler’s Ford for Labour at next year’s General Election.

The self-employed family law barrister is hoping to become the party’s first Winchester MP since 1950.

He said his priorities were affordable housing, social justice, flood prevention and building the city’s economy on the strength of its schools.

“It’s not right that there are so many people in Winchester who can’t afford reasonable accommodation,” he said.

Cllr Chaloner, 34, lives in Bassett with his wife and two children but said he has worked in and around Winchester for over a decade.

“I’m well aware that everything is against us,” he said, “[but] I think this election is more wide open than for a very long time. Nobody knows how things are going to go.”

He will run against candidates including incumbent Tory MP Steve Brine and Liberal Democrat Jackie Porter in May.