ANDY Brown has been selected by the Green Party Party as its parliamentary candidate to fight the Skipton and Ripon seat - currently held by Conservative Julian Smith - in the next general election.

At the last election in 2017, Mr Brown, who is a member of Craven District Council, came third with 3,734 votes - an increase of per cent on the vote when he retained his deposit in 2015.

He has lived in the constituency for 24 years after moving to the area work at Keighley College where he was deputy principal before moving on to become Director of Young People’s Learning for Yorkshire and the Humber.

Mr Brown writes regularly for the Yorkshire Post country section and has been a frequent contributor to the letters pages of both the Craven Herald and the Ripon Gazette.

“I believe this constituency needs a strong clear voice speaking on its behalf,” he said.

“The north has been deprived of investment for too long. We need to look ahead and get our country at the forefront of the upcoming wave of fresh new green technology if we are going to secure our future.

“Our economy needs to be restructured to respond to long term real needs not dominated by short term self-interest. It is time we stopped covering our wonderful local countryside with housing developments that our young people can’t afford to buy. Our farmers and our businesses need us to stay inside the EU not be exposed to naked competition and a high risk trade deal with the US. Above all we need to face up to the very real climate emergency and face up to our responsibilities to provide a sustainable future for our country, our region and our wonderful locality.”