THE town’s Labour group has selected Coun Julie Cooper to stand as its prospective MP for Burnley.

Coun Cooper, who is the current Labour leader on Burnley Council, was selected after competing with former county councillors Tony Martin and Marcus Johnstone.

Her selection followed the dropping of the controversial decision to only put women forward to represent the town at the next general election.

Mum-of-two Coun Cooper, who is now hoping to replace Kitty Ussher as MP when she steps down at the election, said: “It’s a great privilege to have been selected by the members of Burnley, to represent my home town and stand up and fight for the people in this constituency.

“This town has been represented by a Labour MP since 1935 and I’m determined to continue this proud tradition.

“Burnley has an exciting future after Labour has invested in a new University and schools, children’s centres, free swimming and increased help for pensioners.

“I know there’s still a lot of hard work to be done and I'm going to get out and hear what issues matter to people on the doorstep.”

Julie, a qualified English teacher, has run a pharmacy in Burnley for 23 years.

Bosses at the Labour group are hoping her Burnley background will help win votes in the election.

Peter Pike, chairman of Burnley Labour Party and the town’s former MP, said: “We’re delighted Julie has been selected and I feel confident that whenever the election comes along Labour now has the best candidate for Burnley.

“Julie is from Burnley, loves the town and is the best person to fight for Burnley in Westminster.”

The two other major parties have already chosen their prospective candidates, with Richard Ali representing the Conservatives and Gordon Birtwistle the Liberal Democrats.