A RETAIL worker has announced he is running to be selected as Labour’s next Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Barrow and Furness.

John Reynolds, who works at the Booths store in Ulverston, is a member of the Co-operative Party and the trade union Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers).

Mr Reynolds, a Labour councillor, has lived in North Lancashire his whole life and he and his wife Rebecca have two children, Thomas, aged 13, and Charlotte who is 10.

His family live and work across the constituency including at Furness General Hospital and BAE Systems.

Mr Reynolds has outlined a number of reasons why Labour Party members in Barrow and Furness should choose him to be their candidate including his commitment to the local area and his support for jobs, industry and regeneration.

“Barrow and Furness is extremely special to me and my family," he said.

"We live and work across the Furness peninsula, in Barrow, Dalton and Ulverston and work in the hospital, in the shipyard and, in my case, in retail. We need a Labour government committed to our industries and to building on them and an MP who will fight for investment and regeneration.”

The current MP John Woodcock has been serving as an independent MP after quitting the Labour party earlier this year.

He had served as the Labour MP for Barrow since being elected in 2010.

However, in a letter sent to party leader Jeremy Corbyn, he said "manipulation" of an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, the "toleration" of anti-Semitism, and Mr Corbyn's stance on national defence made his position in the Labour party untenable.

Labour Party members will select their next Parliamentary Candidate on February 2 2019. Applications close tomorrow (Friday).

Find Mr Reynolds on social media at www.facebook.com/john4furness or on Twitter at @john4furness