METRO Mayor Dan Norris is Labour’s general election candidate for the new North East Somerset and Hanham seat.
Mr Norris, who was MP for the area between 1997 and 2010, was selected by party members on May 10.
He will be up against the Conservative Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg in what pundits say will be one of the closest and most fascinating contests at the election.
Mr Norris, who is from a Somerset coal mining family, has lived locally all his life. Before his stint in Parliament he was an NSPCC trained child protection officer.
He said: “I am delighted and proud to have been selected as the Labour candidate. This is my home and I’m passionate about making it the best it can be.
“North East Somerset and Hanham is a highly marginal seat and it’s one where only Labour can beat the Conservatives.”
In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Norris said if he became the MP there would be a period of overlap with his Metro Mayor role, tio which he was elected in 2021.
He said: “There’s 1,001 reasons and 70,000 people in the new constituency I want to help.”
And Jacob Rees-Mogg, who unseated him 14 years ago? “I know him and we get on fine,” said Mr Norris. He added: “He’s my constituent and I am his.”
But he said he disagreed with the things the North East Somerset MP said. Mr Norris said: “I think he takes a keen interest in his constituency. […] It’s not that that concerns me, it’s the Tory record and he has been defending that.We have to get Britain’s future back.”