YARKHILL'S Christopher Kingsley has been selected as a candidate for the European elections by the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Mr Kingsley is number four on a panel of seven UKIP candidates for the West Midlands region.

The election is on June 10 and will be fought under proportional representation.

UKIP currently has three MEPs and Mr Kingsley said it hopes to increase that to ten, including at least one in the West Midlands.

"On June 10, UKIP will be giving voters the chance for a 'referendum on Europe' that is being denied them by the Government," he said. "We are confident, from over 4,000 Herefordshire people who have signed our petition demanding a referendum on the EU Constitution, that voters will take the chance to make their views crystal clear through the ballot box."

Mr Kingsley, 45, joined the party in 1996 and served as campaign manager for Malvern's Richard Chamings the following year, in the contest for the Leominster parliamentary seat.

He stood himself in Leominster at the 2001 General Election.