Former Conservative party chair and veteran East Lancs MP Andrew Stephenson has been re-selected by members to be the candidate in Pendle at the next General Election.

Mr Stephenson, who has represented Pendle since 2010, will contend the seat again at the next election, expected to take place in 2024.

Local Conservative party members selected him to fight for the newly created Pendle and Clitheroe constituency, created in the 2023 Boundary Review.

However, current polls show he faces a tough task in keeping his place in Westminster, with the Tories having just an 11 per cent chance of winning in Pendle and Clitheroe.

Announcing his selection, he said: “Thank you to the Pendle and Clitheroe selection committee for adopting me as the Conservatives candidate for the new seat (which comprises 10 wards of Pendle and 10 wards of Ribble Valley).

“Naturally, I will continue to serve all my current Pendle constituents until the election.”

Mr Stephenson, 42, currently serves as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and has held a number of roles so far in his parliamentary career.

He won Pendle for the Conservatives in 2010 after it had been Labour held for 18 years, and currently holds a 6,000 vote majority.

He held a number of junior ministerial roles before becoming Minister of State for Africa in 2019, before being moved to Minister of State for HS2 a year later.

After Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister last summer, he appointed Mr Stephenson Tory party chair during his caretaker government until Liz Truss became party leader.

At this time he was also appointed to Her Majesty’s Privy Council, the 1,336th and final person to be sworn in before the Queen’s death.

He was then moved to be a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Housing and Communities until Truss resigned, and when Rishi Sunak became PM, Mr Stephenson was appointed to his current role in the Treasury.

In the New Year’s Honours, Mr Stephenson was made a CBE for his services to politics.

According to polling aggregator Electoral Calculus, if a general election was held tomorrow the Conservatives would lose Pendle and Clitheroe, with Labour having an 89 per cent chance of winning the newly-created seat.

The new seat is made up of 10 Pendle Borough Council wards, and 10 wards in east of the Ribble Valley.