Sir David Amess: Southend Tories say eight candidates show interest in by-election

Sir David Amess' seat has become vacant after he was fatally stabbed on Friday

Conservatives have confirmed eight candidates have expressed interest in running in a by-election to find a replacement for MP Sir David Amess.

Nigel Holdcroft, president of Southend West Conservatives said they were keen that someone familiar with the area should be chosen for the MP's Southend West constituency.

Those who had so far shown interest were all local residents, he said.

The Conservative Party said it did not comment on selection processes.

"The [by-election] procedure hasn't actually started yet, and we've no intention of starting it until after Sir David's funeral," Mr Holdcroft said.

The Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties have already stated they will not be contesting the seat out of respect to Sir David, who was fatally stabbed in Leigh-on-Sea on 15 October.

The British Freedom Party said its leader, Jayda Fransen, would stand in the by-election.

Southend West Conservative Association constituency office says it wants a local candidate to replace Sir David Amess

There have been concerns the successful candidate might come from outside the area, and last week, John Lamb, chairman of the Southend West Conservative Association said they were "not going to take any candidate they want to shove on to us".

Mr Holdcroft said: "Inevitably when a vacancy like this arises, people start to show interest, and so far about eight local residents have shown interest."

He said "in an ideal world" Sir David's replacement would be local.

"Obviously, whoever is selected is going to have a real task to live up to Sir David's performance as an amazing constituency MP," he said.

"But inevitably there will be a large number of people both within the area, and outside, who are going to be showing some interest in trying to be adopted."

He said every candidate would be considered "on their merits".

Mr Holdcroft added: "Sir David has given his constituents very high expectations as to what to expect of their MP, and we need to find someone who's prepared to step up to that mark."