LONG-STANDING Derby city councillor Evonne Williams says it will be "an honour" to run against Dame Margaret Beckett, after she was selected as Tory candidate for Derby South at next May's General Election.
Mrs Williams is, so far, up against Dame Margaret and Liberal Democrat councillor Joe Naitta. UKIP and other parties are yet to announce their candidates.
Dame Margaret has been MP for Derby South since 1983 and was the first woman to be both the Foreign Secretary and to lead Labour.
Mrs Williams said: "Women in politics need to have a role model and, as a role model, I think she's done a tremendous job."
But she was more scathing about Dame Margaret's party.
She said: "The Conservatives' long-term economic plan is benefiting Derby with employment figures hitting record highs, but the job isn't over and Labour put these hard-won gains at risk."
Mrs Williams, 42, of Borrowfield Road, Spondon, said her aims, if elected, would be to bring more jobs to the constituency and ensure there were enough school places.
She will also campaign for a change of rules so that housing developers have to declare their plans for infrastructure, such as schools and doctors' surgeries, in their planning application for new sites.
Currently, she said, this does not have to happen until after planning permission is granted.
Her point was made as the city council moves to finalise a list of sites earmarked for future housing which will include thousands on the edge of the city.
Mrs Williams has represented Spondon on the city council since 2000 and was cabinet member for young people and children's services from 2010 to 2012.
A school governor at Asterdale Primary and trustee at a number of city charities, she is also a former NHS non-executive director.
Her part-time day job is working for the YMCA, for which she mentors young people. She said that, if elected, she would also be "banging the drum" to get more companies on to new industrial estates in the constituency, such as Commercial Park, Alvaston.
Dame Margaret said the points Mrs Williams made concerned issues she had been working on with the city council for some time.
Mr Naitta agreed that creating more jobs was important, in what is a "very industrialised" constituency and said he would also be campaigning for a raise in the minimum wage to £9 per hour.
The current minimum wage for over-21s is £6.50 per hour, raised from £6.31 at the beginning of this month. Mr Miliband is proposing to raise the minimum wage to £8 if Labour wins the election next year.
The Conservatives say that the £6.50 figure already represents an above-inflation rise.
