FILTON & Bradley Stoke MP Jack Lopresti has confirmed he will contest the next general election, when he will be asking for the votes of Emersons Green residents for the first time.
The Voice reported last year that a proposed boundary change meant Emersons Green and Lyde Green would both be part of Filton & Bradley Stoke constituency.
The Kingswood seat which now covers most of the area is being abolished and the Thornbury & Yate constituency, which currently includes part of Lyde Green, will have its boundary moved away.
The boundary change has now been made law and Conservative Mr Lopresti, who has represented Filton & Bradley Stoke since the constituency was created in 2010, has confirmed he has been selected to contest it again.
He said: “I am thrilled to have been chosen as the Conservative Party candidate for the next general election.”
Father-of-four Mr Lopresti, 54, said: “I have lived and worked in Bristol and the South West area all my life.
“Upon finishing school at 15, I worked in my father’s local ice cream and catering business for over a decade. After leaving the family business in 1997, I worked in the financial services and residential property sectors, as a consultant and as a manager. Prior to being elected in 2010, I worked in the private security sector.”
Before becoming an MP Mr Lopresti was a Bristol city councillor for eight years, representing Stockwood, and was his party’s parliamentary candidate for Bristol East in 2001 and the South West region in the European Parliament elections of 2004.
“I am an Army veteran and served with 29 Commando, Royal Artillery as a mobilised reservist Gunner for a year. I was deployed to Helmand Province in Afghanistan on Operation Herrick 9 in the Autumn/Winter of 2008-9.
“With my son Michael serving in the Army in 1 Royal Horse Artillery and as Vice President of the Stoke Gifford branch of the Royal British Legion, this is something very close to my heart and has fuelled my work as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for the armed forces, veterans, and the police.”
Mr Lopresti said his main local focuses are prioritising jobs and apprenticeships in the defence manufacturing sector; promoting house building, investing in education and schools, improving access to health services, improving transport connectivity, supporting the police and enforcing law and order.
Last year the Voice reported that Labour had picked its candidate for the seat, Claire Hazelgrove.