Non-Tories can elect Bury North candidate

11:19am Thursday 2nd November 2006

RESIDENTS - including Labour voters - will be able to choose the next Tory candidate for Bury North.

The party is holding an "open primary" meeting, where anyone who is registered to vote in the constituency can have their say and vote in a ballot at the end of the meeting. Bury North is the first seat in Greater Manchester to use this method, and the meeting is to be held on November 11 at Holy Cross College in Bury, starting at 1.30pm.

The Conservatives need a swing of around three per cent to take the seat from Labour's David Chaytor. He has held the seat since 1997, with a majority at last year's General Election of 2,926 votes.

There are three candidates for the selection.

l-Simon Baynes (46), managing director of a UK investment bank. He lives in Powys and was Conservative candidate for Montgomeryshire in 2005.

l-David Nuttall (44), a solicitor and former councillor. He lives in Bury and contested the Bury North constituency last year.

l-Alex Williams (31), a chartered accountant who lives in Hale, Cheshire. He is a councillor in Trafford and was the Parliamentary candidate for Bury South in 2005.

A party spokesman said this selection method took the choice to a much wider circle of people, regardless of their political views. He added: "If David Chaytor wants to come down and see the next MP for Bury North, he will be most welcome."

Anyone who wants to attend is asked to pre-register, either at www.buryconservatives.com; by emailing burynorth@tory.org or calling 764 4548.