General Election: Northumberland councillor and former mayoral candidate to contest Newcastle North constituency for the Conservatives

Guy Renner-Thompson, also a Northumberland County Council cabinet member, will stand in the seat, which has been held by Labour since 1983 but has been significantly redrawn under the latest boundary commission review.

The portfolio holder for education was born in the area and then lived there during his studies at university.

Cllr Renner-Thompson said: “I am looking forward to getting out and about in the constituency.

“We have got a few hustings events planned and it is good to give the people of Newcastle a solid Conservative voice for loyal Conservative supporters to vote for.”

Asked what the party needed to do to win back voters, the Bamburgh councillor said: “Where we have hard-working candidates, we win. We have seen that in the past few by-elections in the North East.

“We have just got to get out there with our positive message for the region.

"The government has put huge amounts of money into the North East. We need to reinforce the message that Labour took the region for granted last time and got nothing done.”

Cllr Renner-Thompson came third in the mayoral race behind Labour’s Kim McGuinness and independent candidate Jamie Driscoll, attracting 52,446 votes. In Newcastle he received just 5,012 votes and came behind Aidan King of the Liberal Democrats.

Despite this, he felt his experience would serve him well in the general election campaign. He also confirmed he remained opposed to the city’s controversial clean air zone.

Cllr Renner-Thompson said: “We came third in the mayoral race, we gave Conservatives in the region a voice to vote for.

"It is clear that has given me a bit of a profile but we are always talking about tomorrow, always fighting the next battle.

The Labour MP for Newcastle North since 2010, Catherine McKinnell, is standing once again. The other candidates are Aidan King for the Liberal Democrats, independent candidate King Teare, Sarah Peters of the Green Party, Deborah Lorraine for Reform UK, and Martin Evison of the Social Democratic Party.

Fellow Northumberland councillor Nick Oliver, who represents Corbridge ward, is also a Tory candidate at the election after he was selected as the party’s candidate for Gateshead and Whickham.