FIVE women are all bidding to be the next Labour MP for the Colne Valley.

They will vie for selection to fight for the seat for the Labour party, which has selected an all-female shortlist.

But it’s a man leading the Colne Valley selection process and Phil Woodthorpe, a party member from Lindley, said: “It is very important that we increase the number of female MPs in Parliament.”

The candidates selected are:

Anita Cherryholme, a Barnsley councillor and MPs researcher.

Binnie Joshi Barr, who runs a Linthwaite business,

Sarah Cook, a senior manager for IBM and business lecturer.

Roxanne Ellis, a Nottingham councillor.

Louise Reecejones, a former Army officer and counsellor.

Mr Woodthorpe criticised the Tories for having few female MPs.

He said the present Conservative MP Jason McCartney “represents an out of touch party run by privately educated men like David Cameron and George Osborne.”

Mr McCartney told the Examiner that he was not privately educated.

Mr Woodthorpe added: “After three years their policies have failed the hard working people of Colne Valley.”

Labour’s National Executive made the decision to have a woman-only shortlist in March.

There is a similar situation in Dewsbury, where Tory Simon Reevell is currently in Westminster.

Labour lost the Colne Valley seat to Mr McCartney at the 2010 election.

Kali Mountford – who has been the area’s only female MP since the first election in 1885 – stood down through ill-health.

The women were named as the final five at a Honley Labour Party meeting where each candidate spoke about themselves and met party members.

The Labour Party will interview the women next month and then put forward all five – or a shortened candidate list – for members to vote on in July.