The Labour candidate for the North Swindon parliamentary constituency Chris Lloyd has resigned.

Mr Lloyd was chosen by party members less than a month ago for the job of fighting the next general election against sitting Conservative MP Justin Tomlinson.

Mr Lloyd said he was not able to continue owing to the pressures of the job combined with his family life.

His statement said: “It’s with regret that I’ve decided to stand down as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for North Swindon.

“It has been an absolute honour being selected but I have found it challenging balancing work commitments and the demands of being a candidate, and have therefore decided to stand down. I’d like to give my thanks to each and every party member that voted for me and took the time to support my campaign, I’m sorry to let you down.

“I look forward to seeing who is selected for the seat and they will have my full support. Thank you to the local party, the regional South West team and the national party for all of your support during this process”.

The North Swindon Labour Party will now start on the process of finding a new candidate.

It is understood that the party’s National Executive Committee and the regional party office are in discussions to work out what should happen next.

The Conservative MP Mr Tomlinson and his South Swindon companion Sir Robert Buckland were required by the Conservative Party to say whether they intended to stand in the next election.

Despite a whole raft of the party’s MPs announcing their resignation, there has been no indication that either Mr Tomlinson or Sir Robert will not defend their seats.

The next election general election must be held by January 2025 – but most commentators are expecting it to be called by May 2024.

National poll leads for the Labour Party have been translated by commentators into  a win in South Swindon for the Labour candidate Heidi Alexander, a former shadow minister.

The polls have been extrapolated into a much tighter race in North Swindon, which was won easily in December 2019 by Mr Tomlinson with 59 per cent of the vote and a 16,000 majority.

Also standing in the next election will be Green Party candidates Andy Bentley in North Swindon  and Rod Hebden in South Swindon