VOTERS in Brecon and Radnorshire will get the chance to elect the first female Conservative MP in Wales after local members selected their general election candidate.

Fay Jones, who used to work for Prince Charles, was selected as the party’s Parliamentary candidate at a selection meeting held at Builth Wells last night.

Party members were due to select a candidate after losing the seat the Conservatives had held since 2015 at August’s Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. A general election is likely to be held soon as Prime Minister Boris Johnson doesn’t have a majority in Parliament.

Ms Jones is one of three women selected in target seats by the party which has never returned a female MP in a Welsh seat.

The 34-year-old, who works as a political lobbyist in Cardiff, said: "If elected I will be one of the first Welsh Conservative women MPs. We have never elected a female Conservative in Wales and I am one of three (candidates)."

The others are in Wrexham and Gower, which was held by the Conservatives from 2015 to 2017, but Brecon and Radnorshire is likely to be considered the party’s top Welsh target. Previous MP Chris Davies failed to hold on to the seat at the by-election called after he was convicted over expenses irregularities.

Ms Jones, who was born and brought up in Cardiff, said she has strong links with agricultural communities having previously worked for the National Farmers Union, the UK Government’s Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs and in Prince Charles’ private office.

She said: "I worked in agriculture for a number of years and Brecon and Radnorshire is the jewel in the crown of the Welsh agricultural sector and that is one of the reasons I wanted to bring my skills and experience up here. There is a huge concern about the impact of Brexit on our farmers and what is going to happen.

"Having worked for the NFU and Defra I will be a loud and vocal champion for rural Wales.

"I worked in the Westminster and Brussels offices of the NFU and before that for Defra and I also worked in the private office of the Prince of Wales, in Clarence House on food and farming, so have been involved in agriculture one way or another for about 11 years."

On Brexit Ms Jones said "signs look optimistic" a deal on leaving the European Union could be agreed by October 31. She also said she didn’t believe Brecon and Radnorshire is in support of remain despite Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds winning the by-election with Plaid Cymru and the Greens having pulled out as part of a "remain alliance".

"I don’t," said Ms Jones when asked if she thought Brecon and Radnorshire should be seen as a remain seat even though Powys, as a county, had voted leave in the 2016 referendum.

"There was a strong showing (in the by-election) for the Conservatives and the Brexit Party so there is a clear will for the people of Brecon and Radnorshire to leave the EU. That is the one thing we have got to do now.

"The remain alliance is a blanket she (Ms Dodds) won’t have at the next general election."

Asked if Britain should leave without a deal Ms Jones, speaking this morning before PM Boris Johnson announced he’d struck a "great new deal" with EU, replied: "I don’t think we are there yet. The signs are there we’ll get a deal that will give us a huge amount of control."

Ms Jones also said she wasn’t concerned that being from Cardiff could be held against her despite the Conservatives having criticised Ms Dodds during the by-election campaign and questioning her local credentials. Ms Dodds had previously stood for the Lib Dems in the neighbouring Powys constituency of Montgomeryshire and is originally from Wrexham while she has also worked in London where she had also been a councillor for a short period. After her election Ms Dodds said she was looking for a house in Brecon and Radnorshire.

Ms Jones, whose partner serves in the Duke of Lancaster’s regiment, said she also plans to move to the constituency: "No-one can say I’m a career politician this is the first time I’ve stood as a general election candidate and I’ve only got into politics a few months ago as I was frustrated people are not being listened to.

"I’m from just down the road I will be looking for a house in the area, I probably won’t get a chance to buy a home (before the election) but I will be living in the constituency as soon as I can.

"There is a difference between being from a different part of the country and just down the road and "I’ve spent most of my professional life working on behalf of people who live here and know this constituency very well and I’m looking forward to spending my personal life here as well.

"I have been a member of the Conservatives since I was a teenager in Cardiff North and in London and now back in Wales again."Brecon town councillor Tom Davies, who stood for Labour at the August by-election, had already been selected as the party's general election candidate and he remains in place. It is unclear if Plaid Cymru will stand in Brecon and Radnorshire again.