A CUMBRIAN MP has officially submitted his bid to be chairman of a House of Commons select committee.

Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Borders, Neil Hudson has submitted nomination papers this week, entering the election to chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

The position is vacant following the resignation of disgraced Tiverton and Honiton MP Neil Parish.

Mr Hudson is currently the only candidate to replace him and the deadline for nomination papers is Tuesday May 24.

Select committee chairs are allocated to parties and in January 2020, The Order of the House allocated the chair of the EFRA committee to the Conservatives.

This means that only a member of the Conservative Party can stand for election to the seat.

Mr Hudson’s campaign for the chairmanship is centred around his experience as a veterinary surgeon and scientist.

The Penrith MP is also a sitting member of the committee where he says he is working “collegiately to scrutinise DEFRA robustly but fairly.”

Mr Hudson pledges continued campaigning for food security, mental health, animal welfare and protecting the environment.

He is currently the only candidate for the role. If only one candidate throws their hat in the ring they will be appointed chairman on the date that nominations close.

Yesterday the EFRA committee were given a rare opportunity to cross examine bosses of the Environment Agency.

The committee raised a number of issues to EA bosses including the hot topic of sewage flow into the UK’s lakes and rivers as well as air quality and flood defences.