Former Labour MP Heidi Alexander is bidding to return to the Commons, after she was selected as the party’s candidate for the South Swindon constituency.

To return as an MP, the former shadow cabinet member would need to defeat Welsh Secretary Robert Buckland, who has held the seat since 2010 and currently has a majority of around 6,600 votes.

Ms Alexander left her seat of Lewisham East in 2018 to become Sadiq Khan’s deputy mayor for transport.

A former shadow health secretary, she was among the MPs to quit Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench in 2016 after she said she lost confidence in his leadership.

She tweeted that the selection “means the world to me”.

“Am determined to build a winning team here and to make a real difference to my home town,” she said.