MORE district residents are to fight it out for a place in the House of Commons - but not for the Wyre Forest seat.

At least three Wyre Forest people are contesting seats elsewhere in the UK, along with former district residents.

Tom Watson will be defending the Labour seat of West Bromwich East, which is regarded as safe, while Bewdley's Nigel Knowles and Blakedown's Jim Brown are representing the party in Ludlow and Meriden respectively.

Watson, a former King Charles I High School pupil, who now lives in Sandwell, said: "I have got great affection for Wyre Forest and my family still live in Kidderminster so I visit them regularly."

Gulf war veteran, Jim Brown, said he was looking forward to representing Labour at the polls for the first time. The former RAF navigator said the Iraq war was not an issue on the doorstep in the Midlands constituency and told the Shuttle/Times & News: "It is just the right timing for me. Circumstances have come together and the opportunity of a seat arose. I have the drive and motivation for the agenda. It is quite an exciting time."

Stourport-born Conservative candidate, Marcus Hayes, is to contest the Labour-held seat of Staffordshire Moorlands for the second time.

The former Stourport High School and Kidderminster College pupil said: "I think there is a lot of similarity between the seat I am standing for and Wyre Forest. Wyre Forest was also a Conservative seat, which we held prior to 1997 for over 30 years."

Former Edgbaston resident, Mike Dixon, returns to the Birmingham suburb to fight for the Liberal Democrats.

The Kidderminster resident said: "It is one of those seats that the Conservative Party believe they have to win if they are going to have any kind of revival. It is a safe, leafy suburb. If they can't gain that kind of seat they are finished as a national party."