THE Ayrshire branch of the Scottish Green Party have selected their candidate for Central Ayrshire in the General Election in May.

Veronika Tudhope – an Ayrshire resident for nearly 25 years – is hoping to challenge Brian Donohoe’s stance on renewing Trident.

A prominent peace and anti-nuclear weapons campaigner, Ms Tudhope, 51, has been politically active since her student days at Glasgow University where she was a founder member of the Green Group.

She said: “I was ‘green’ in my outlook and life choices long before I joined the Scottish Green Party.” She is also a prominent peace campaigner – cofounding the Anti-Trident Party, a campaigning group that highlights the issue of Trident’s presence in Scotland and is vice-chair of Ayrshire CND, joint vice-chair of Scottish CND and since 2011 she has served on the executive of CND(UK).

She worked for four years as a postwoman, but also administered national charity The Breastfeeding Network for eight years and before being made redundant recently was a trainer in counselling and support for them.

Ms Tudhope added: "All my adult life I’ve been working for peace and social justice.

“If I am elected to Westminster I shall be able do that in a place where I can make a bigger difference.

“In particular Westminster will be voting on Trident replacement in 2016 and I want to be there voting against a new generation of dangerous nuclear weapons on the Clyde.” MSP Patrick Harvie, Scottish Greens co-convener, commented on Veronika’s selection: “Ayrshire Greens, like many of our branches, have grown enormously in recent months and are in a great position to run a good campaign, and I’m delighted they have selected Veronika to fight what promises to be an election like no other. We look forward to getting our message across in Ayrshire in the months ahead.” The sitting Labour MP for Central Ayrshire, Brian Donohoe, has held the seat since 1992 and currently commands a 12,000 majority.