Conservative party chiefs have chosen a young candidate to take on Paula Sherriff in the Dewsbury seat at the General Election.

Local woman, Beth Prescott, 24, has been selected to battle Ms Sherriff for a place in parliament on June 8.

The Conservatives are currently favourites with bookies to take the marginal seat back.

Leading gambling site, Betfair, has them at 1/6 on to wrestle back control.

Labour are 7/2 to retain the constituency won by Ms Sherriff from Simon Reevell in 2015.

William Hill has it slightly closer at 2/7 for a Conservative win, with Labour at 5/2.

Paula Sherriff gains Dewsbury for Labour at count at Cathedral House, Huddersfield.

Miss Prescott is little known outside of Dewsbury, but last came to the fore when she took on Labour heavyweight Yvette Cooper for her Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford seat at the last General Election.

She came third with 20.8% of the vote, a few votes behind UKIP, with Mrs Cooper easily retaining her safe seat with 54.9% of the vote.

Miss Prescott is known to have big political ambitions with her Twitter account at one time being branded “Beth4PM”.

She joined the Conservative Party at the age of 18 having got into politics after studying the subject at A-level.

Born and brought up in Dewsbury, she is a senior member of the Dewsbury Conservative Association, and works as a donor development campaign manager for a poverty-relief charity.

Also a season-ticket holder at Huddersfield Town, she has vowed to campaign for better health services and more jobs, especially apprenticeships for young people.