Who will Tories pick to stand in new Waveney Valley seat?

The new seat will be unusual in that it crosses the Suffolk/Norfolk border - with communities like Bungay, Halesworth, Eye and Stowupland joining Diss and Harleston in the same constituency.

Despite its name, the only part of the current Waveney seat in the new constituency is the Bungay area - the rest, including Beccles, will be in the new Lowestoft seat that sitting MP Peter Aldous has already been chosen to contest.

Conservatives from across the country - including several MPs whose seats are being abolished in the constituency shake-up - are expected to apply.

They will be joined by several local candidates, county council deputy leader Richard Rout and East Suffolk councillor James Mallinder have already put their names forward.

A long-list of up to 100 candidates will be drawn up which will then be whittled down to a short-list of four or five who will be interviewed and then put to the vote of party members.

A candidate should be in place by the time the national Conservative Party Conference is held in Manchester at the start of October.

The Green Party has already chosen joint leader Adrian Ramsay, a former Norwich City Councillor, as its candidate in the seat which it sees as one of its best targets in the country.

Green Party leader Adrian Ramsay has already been chosen to contest the Waveney Valley seat. (Image: Charlotte Bond)

Other parties are expected to choose their candidates nearer the election date.

As well as choosing candidates, the parties are also having to set up their new constituency organisations in the seat - with officers and membership events.

When the next General Election is held the Green Party sees the seat as a major target - but to win they would have to overturn what will be a large notional Conservative majority.