THE leader of Worcester City Council is standing as a parliamentary candidate in Sheffield South East, more than 120 miles from his city home.

Marc Bayliss has been out canvassing in Yorkshire of late after being selected to represent the Conservatives in a Labour stronghold for the General Election on December 12.

He launched a new Twitter account on Tuesday, announcing he was standing in the seat most recently held by Labour’s Clive Betts, announcing he was “out and about in Darnall” alongside a photo.

As of yesterday afternoon, Mr Bayliss, 46, had nine tweets in total, one with Cheltenham Tory hopeful Alex Chalk and Miriam Cates, who standing in Penistone and Stocksbridge, in South Yorkshire.

His account makes no reference to him being a councillor in Worcester.

Others vying for the South East Sheffield seat are Lib Dem Rajin Chowdhury, Brexit Party’s Kirk Kus and Yorkshire Party’s Alex Martin.

Mr Betts won the seat by a landslide in 2017 with 58.5 per cent of the votes and in 2015 by 51.4 per cent.

In a post on Sheffield Conservatives, Mr Bayliss is said to hold an undergraduate degree in economics and a masters in management.

He has run a small economic research company for 14 years and is a director of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, as well as a creative industries start up.

In the post, Mr Bayliss is quoted as saying he is “looking forward to getting out and about engaging with the people of Sheffield South East” and said he previously worked in the area.

“I am standing in this election to help us get Brexit done and so that we can move forward to address the priorities of the British people such as schools, the NHS and addressing the climate change challenge,” he added.

It is Mr Bayliss’s second attempt at Parliament after he stood for Labour in the Wyre Forest in 2005. He was unavailable for comment before print.