Labour has picked NHS doctor Nik Johnson to take on Tory incumbent James Palmer and Lib Dem challenger Aidan Van de Weyer to be the next Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Dr Johnson is a councillor for St Neots at Huntingdonshire District Council.

In the inaugural elections in 2017, Dr Johnson, a paediatrician and political campaigner, and former Parliamentary candidate for Huntingdon, failed to win his party’s nomination.

Fast forward to 2020 and it is Dr Johnson who will carry the party’s colours – and hopes – into the May 2021 poll for mayor.

Party officials said they were delighted that Dr Johnson would be the Labour Party challenger to Conservative incumbent James Palmer.

Dr Johnson – who describes himself as a “proud trade unionist” - is a children’s doctor at Hinchingbrooke Hospital and the Oaktree Centre on the Oxmoor Estate.

“I believe passionately in the idea of public service,” he said.

“In my day-to-day job I have witnessed how the health of our local population is affected by the level of provision of education and transport, housing and social care services.”

He added: “I wish to be a fresh, alternative voice, campaigning strongly and representing all the residents of Cambridgeshire.

“As a doctor I am proud to have made a positive difference to people’s lives I hope in the future I will be able to help and support the local population in national government.”