A FORMER Labour parliamentary candidate has thrown his hat into the ring to be the next police and crime commissioner for the region.

Dan Walton, who took on West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin at this year's General Election, wants to be Labour's potential hopeful by winning its forthcoming selection contest.

The 39-year-old, a father-of-three, is widely seen as a rising star within party ranks and runs his own businesses selling outdoor camping and caravan products.

He has also helped build up the West Worcestershire branch of the Labour Party, which was re-founded in January 2013 from virtually nothing.

Back in May he polled 7,244 votes, finishing a narrow third to UKIP and was unable to prevent Mrs Baldwin romping home with a huge 22,578 majority.

Next May the current Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Bill Longmore is stepping down, leaving the key role up for grabs.

Mr Walton is the first candidate to put his name forward so far from Labour ranks.

A formal selection process for Labour is expected to take place in January, with Mr Walton the first one to announce he is vying for the role.

He said: "I'm optimistic about it, it's up to us to get people as enthused as we can and get them out to vote.

"We want to win, there's no doubt in our minds about that at all and I don't see the PCC as an overly political role.

"I want more social justice and more involvement from our local communities about policing."

He said one of his key themes will be to highlight what he sees as a lack of police officers on the streets.

"One of the most shocking things is, we've cut police numbers when there wasn't enough in the first place," he said.

"The Met (Metropolitan Police) took eight minutes to respond to that incident at the train station on Saturday night, I'm not being critical of them at all but that's the situation we are in."

He also said areas like Worcester would be key ones to target of securing big voting numbers, but said he was keen to focus on rural spots too.

"Areas like Worcester and Bromsgrove will be real targets, of course, from a 'chimney pot' point of view that's where a lot of people live but we can't ignore rural areas," he added.

"People there are worried about crime too."

Mr Walton grew up in Sheffield but lives in Martley.

The Conservative Party has already announced that Councillor John Campion is its confirmed candidate.