AN academic has won the right to stand as the Labour Party's first female candidate in a city constituency.

Roberta Woods, 46, won the nomination for Durham City after a vote by 700 constituency Labour Party members this weekend.

She said: "I am thrilled. The next election is going to be tough campaign, but I am up for it."

Mrs Woods, a dean at Northumbria University, said her strongest challenge would come from the Liberal Democrats, who ousted the ruling Labour group from Durham City Council last year.

The married mother-of- one was selected from an imposed all-female shortlist, which attracted criticism from outgoing Labour MP Gerry Steinberg.

Durham is one of ten constituencies where Labour's National Executive Committee ordered such a shortlist to bolster the existing 118 female MPs.

Speaking from her home in Durham last night, Mrs Wood said: "My feelings are that I wish it wasn't necessary, but it is a very effective way of getting more women into Parliament." .

Another North-East seat, Joyce Quin's Gateshead East and Washington West constituency, has also had a women-only shortlist imposed.

Mrs Wood, Durham constituency Labour Party chairwoman, won a large majority over nearest rival, former Durham Mayor Eileen Rochford, of Esh Winning.

The other defeated candidates were Darlington borough councillor Lee Vasey and Margaret Meling, an English language advisor for Sunderland Education Authority.