THE selection of a Conservative candidate for a relatively safe North-East Labour seat is unlikely to be made for several months.

Labour party members in the Durham City constituency will vote for their candidate for the next General Election, expected to be next year, from an all-female shortlist of four today.

The city's Labour MP Gerry Steinberg has announced he is stepping down at the next election following four terms in the post.

The party's National Executive Committee earmarked Durham as one of ten constituencies in which an all-female shortlist will be imposed, in an attempt to boost the number of women in the Commons.

The winner of the ballot will be up against Carol Woods, who has been selected by the Liberal Democrats as their candidate, following her unsuccessful challenge for the seat in the 2001 election.

Ms Woods reduced Labour's 22,504 majority to 13,441 in a 7.8 per cent swing to the Lib Dems in the last election.

Ms Woods is now a city council cabinet member for finance after the Lib Dems' local election success in Durham last May.

Despite the early selection of their rivals' representatives, the Conservatives are not expecting to name their candidate in the near future.

A spokesman for the Durham Conservative Association said: "The party is looking at the marginal seats first and Durham cannot be described as a marginal.

"So it won't be just yet, in fact it is unlikely to be in the next few months."

Barrister Nick Cartmell, who stood for the Tories in 2001, said he will not stand.

* The four candidates for the Labour nomination tomorrow (SAT) are Durham constituency party chairwoman Roberta Woods, city councillor and former Mayor Eileen Rochford, Sunderland education authority English language advisor Margaret Meling, and Darlington Borough Council cabinet member for leisure, Lee Vasey.