Coun Jeff Reid, who leads the minority Liberal Democrat administration at County Hall, will contest the Parliamentary seat of Blyth Valley at the next general election.

Coun Reid faces the task of unseating Ronnie Campbell, the former-miner and Labour MP who has represented Blyth Valley in the House of Commons for 22 years, and holds a majority in excess of 8,000.

"I'm very excited about the forthcoming election," Coun Reid said this morning.

"And if you look at the last few election results, we stand a very good chance of beating Labour.

"But I think the government will go all the way to next June before calling a general election."

Coun Reid oversaw the transition to a single unitary authority in Northumberland, replacing the six district councils and has served as a councillor for 14 years in Blyth Valley.

Asked what would happen to the leadership of the council if he was elected to Parliament, Coun Reid said he was merely the figurehead of larger leadership "team".

"The leadership of the council is like any job, it's a team effort," he said. "The council is led by the Lib Dem group, and I'm just a spokesman for that."

Coun Reid hopes the party's sucess in south east Northumberland's first parish council elections will carry over into a general election

"I'd like to think those people who voted for Lib Dem parish councillors will vote for a Liberal Democrat MP, and it's my job to convince them," the told newspostleader.co.uk today.

"I think voters judged Labour on both national and local issues.

"We don't have a history of town councils, people were judging Labour on the record of the borough councils and the way they mismanaged the county.

"People know that coming in to lead the unitary authority is tough, and it is difficult and I think voters have judged Labour's failures basically."