THE Conservative Party in Pendle have selected their prospective candidate to fight the next General Election - even though polling may be three years away.

Andrew Stephenson, 25, was chosen at Lancashire's first primary', a new initiative allowing Pendle residents to have a say in the choice of candidate regardless of whether they belong to the party.

And the new candidate, the Tories' youngest in Lancashire, feels he has a good chance taking Pendle from Labour MP Gordon Prentice.

The self-employed insurance broker, who lives in Cheshire, said: "I am delighted and very grateful to the people who took part in this selection. Pendle is changing and so are we. I want to be a strong voice for hope and optimism in this area and, over the coming months and years, I will be working hard to meet people across the constituency."

Mr Stephenson, who says he plans to move to Pendle, added: "We have seen, over the last few days, how New Labour has run out of steam.

"It almost doesn't matter who is the leader of the Labour Party any more, none of them has anything new to offer the people of Pendle."

He said the Tories were putting up a candidate early because Pendle would be a key seat.

"Gordon Prentice has a 2,000-vote majority. A swing of about three per cent for the Conservatives is all it would take to win the seat back from Labour.

"It is a barometer seat in Lancashire. At the next General Election we want to win seats like Pendle in Lancashire and we are keen to putg across a positive message about what we can offer the people of Pendle.

"While the Labour Party over the last week have been in disarray it seems the wheels have fallen off and we will be out on the door step finding out people's real concerns.

"No-one can be certain when the General Election will be - it is more than likely 2009 - but the reason for early selection is to give us chance to establish ourselves. There's talk of a snap General Election and we need to be prepared for that."

At the last election Labour polled 37.1 per cent in the constituency while the Tories took 31.8 per cent.

Coun Tonia Barton, chairman of the local Conservatives, said: "We know that in Pendle, like the rest of the country, only the Conservatives can beat Blair and Brown and that's why we have chosen Andrew.

"He is full of enthusiasm and energy and will be working hard on many of the issues affecting this community."

The primary selection was launched by Theresa May MP and enabled any Conservative Party supporter living in Pendle to vote on who should be the Conservative candidate.