THE Welsh Conservative Party has said the selection of its Brecon and Radnorshire Welsh Assembly candidate is a matter for the local association.

The president of the Brecon and Radnor Conservative Association, Jonathan Reeves, had said earlier today he believed controversial candidate Gary Price should resign.

It had earlier been revealed the Llandrindod Wells county councillor has been referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales who is considering whether he may have breached Powys County Council’s code of conduct.

Sources within the local party say the association has been ’split’ by Cllr Price’s selection in July. Complaints have been made at how the open primary meeting was conducted and it is claimed Cllr Price was able to receive text messages during a question and answer session.

The open primary allowed party members and residents who registered as supporters to vote to select the Conservative candidate for the Brecon and Radnorshire seat at the 2016 Welsh Assembly elections.

The Welsh Conservative Party hasn’t stated whether it has received complaints from the local association.

The statement said: "The selection of the Conservative candidate for Brecon and Radnorshire in the Welsh Assembly election is entirely a matter for the Brecon & Radnorshire Conservative Association.

"The Brecon and Radnor Association decided to involve the wider community and to leave the choice of Conservative candidate to registered voters in the constituency.

"This is a well-established process under which many Conservative MPs were selected. The same process has been taken forward for selecting Conservative candidates in several of our target seats for next year’s election.

"No other political party opens up its candidate selection to all voters, and we recognise that there are a small number of Conservative members in Brecon and Radnorshire who were opposed to opening up the process in this way. Nevertheless, the decision of the Brecon and Radnorshire Association to proceed by way of open primary was entirely within party rules.

"The selection meeting was independently moderated, and attended by a senior official of the Conservative Party, as well as the chairman of the area party. They have both confirmed that the meeting was conducted in accordance with party rules. Gary Price was selected by the meeting in the first ballot, and his adoption as the Conservative candidate was approved by the party members present.

"It is our understanding that the Public Service Ombudsman does not make any public comment on conduct complaints referred to him which may or may not be under investigation.

"The minutes of Powys Standards Committee reveal that since January 2014, fourteen unidentified Powys councillors have been referred to the Public Service Ombudsman for investigation of alleged conduct breaches, the majority of which led to no action."