The Conservative candidate for Copeland’s Parliamentary by-election says Brexit must be respected.

Trudy Harrison, who lives in Bootle, was selected as the party’s candidate in the race to become Copeland’s next MP on Wednesday night.

Mrs Harrison has worked for Copeland council and at Sellafield and served as a parish councillor in Bootle from 2004 to 2007.

The 40-year-old lives in the village with her husband Keith, a welder who works in the nuclear industry, and has four teenage daughters.

Commenting on her selection, Mrs Harrison said: “This important by-election is an opportunity for the people of Copeland to send a message that the referendum result must be respected.

“Copeland has had Labour MPs and Labour councils for years.

“They’ve ignored us and failed to deliver the jobs, infrastructure and services we need, and now they want to ignore how we voted in the referendum.

“I look forward to meeting as many local residents as possible in the coming weeks and setting out how voting Conservative this time will support our local nuclear industry, and deliver the investment Copeland deserves.”

In response to the threat of closing Captain Shaw’s Primary School in Bootle, Mrs Harrison led a successful campaign to save the school and has secured more than £4m of investment in various village projects for future generations since 2010.

She has been the driving force behind award-winning community initiative Bootle 2020 and works as a project manager on special projects, mainly focusing on construction and energy.

Mrs Harrison is bidding to replace Labour’s Jamie Reed when voters go to the polls in the by-election on Thursday, February 23. Mr Reed has resigned from Parliament for a job at Sellafield.

Also standing are Gillian Troughton (Labour), Rebecca Hanson (Liberal Democrats), Fiona Mills (Ukip) and Jack Lenox (Greens).