A HAMPSHIRE councillor has set her sights on parliament in 2020 - after losing her bid to become a Northern Irish MP.

Winchester city councillor Helen Osborne faced an uphill battle in the Lagan Valley last week as she tried to prove her worth to Conservative party chiefs.

The ambitious candidate came last with just 654 votes but hopes her efforts will earn her a place on a Hampshire ballot in five years' time.

Speaking to the Daily Echo from the small town of Moira, Cllr Osborne said: “Like most other people, we have to stand in an unwinnable seat first.

"It's a long-term ambition because I'm focussed on my duties in St Barnabas."

Denying she'd like to succeed fellow Tory Steve Brine as Winchester's MP, she said: “I hope to be in a winnable seat in the south - the red areas in the south.

She added: “I think I would be a strong backbencher. I doubt I would become Prime Minister."

Cllr Osborne spent almost a week campaigning in the region, south-west of Belfast, because she wasn't fighting this year's council elections.