Ten women have put themselves forward for selection by the Labour party as the prospective candidate for Croydon Central parliamentary seat at the General Election, due to be held in 2015.

Upper Norwood councillor Alisa Flemming: one of 10 women seeking Labour’s nomination in Croydon Central

The deadline for applications was yesterday, and saw a fourth Croydon councillor, Alisa Flemming, joining her Town Hall colleagues Jane Avis, Louisa Woodley and Alison Butler among those bidding to become the borough’s first woman MP.

Flemming is a councillor for Upper Norwood, gaining the seat for Labour in 2010, having previously contested the ward in 2006.

Croydon Central is held by the Conservatives, who won the seat in 2010 through Gavin Barwell with a majority of less than 3,000 votes, making it a target seat for Labour in 2015.

The Labour party opted to make its Croydon Central selection for women only.

Three other applicants put themselves forward for selection in the past week: Kusum Parashar, a Labour member from Ealing; Katherine McGuirk, a councillor in Barnet who describes herself as “a true Red” (although she might like to consider altering for the time being the “McGuirk4Watford” tag line on her website); and Fiona Dent, from Maidenhead.

They join early declarers Sarah Jones, Catriona Ogilvy and Hamida Ali, who this week was nominated to stand for Labour in next year’s council elections in the Woodside ward of Croydon Central, in place of current councillor Karen Hewitt.

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