SUZANNAH Clarke will face stiff competition in the fight to inherit Bishop Auckland from Derek Foster.

Three other North-East women are also very interested in receiving the Labour Party nomination to defend Mr Foster's 13,926 majority.

On Saturday, The Northern Echo reported that the former North-East MEP Mo O'Toole, who lost her European seat in June, would like to be considered.

Over the weekend, Joanne Thompson, who also stood for Labour in the region in the European election, came forward, as did Darlington councillor Cyndi Hughes.

Mrs Thompson said: "During campaigning, I felt a real affinity with Bishop Auckland," she said. "Woodhouse Close, for example, is exactly the type of estate I grew up on in Cowgate in Newcastle.

"It was a flashback for me, but the difference is that Cowgate and plenty of other places have been fortunate enough to benefit from regeneration money and are now very different."

Mrs Thompson, 41 who lives in Ponteland, left her job as head of sales and service for BT in Europe to fight the European elections. She is married to a policeman and has three children aged under 11.

"I was born on a council estate and seen many of the kids I grew up with fall by the wayside," she said. "I very much want to break the poverty of expectation cycle which is passed from one generation to another. I am passionate that working class should not mean second class."

Mrs Hughes is the wife of Stephen Hughes, the North-East's MEP, who has represented the region in Brussels since 1984. They have two primary schoolchildren and are currently taking a half-term break in Mrs Hughes' native America.

Mrs Hughes was elected to represent the Skerne Park area of Darlington council in May 2003 and is chair of the council's life-long learning committee.

Mr Foster is retiring at the next election, having held Bishop Auckland since 1979.

It is understood that Labour's National Executive Committee will meet tomorrow to select a shortlist of approved candidates from which the Bishop Auckland constituency party can make its final choice. Delegates at the weekend's conference believed it is likely to be an all-woman shortlist.