A TORY councillor in Monmouthshire has become the third in recent months to decide to run as an independent after she was de-selected in favour of a former AM.

Val Smith, sitting councillor in Llanbadoc ward, who was first elected in the late 1980s, is to run against Conservative candidate, ex-AM and 33-year-old mum-of-one Laura Jones.

She said no-one from her ward was involved in the selection process - where she was interviewed by a panel from the party - but the chairman of the Monmouth Conservative Association said the process was the same for everybody.

The Argus previously reported that Monmouth councillors Alan Wintle of Drybridge and Bob Hayward of Dixton with Osbaston will fight their seats as independents and not Conservatives.

Cllr Wintle was de-selected, while Cllr Hayward defected after he was picked to run in his ward.

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Cllr Smith said she was interviewed by a panel of five people in November: "There was no involvement in this process by any party members in my ward. The interview I would say was cursory and superficial. Two questions were asked of me.

"I feel sad about it. I put a lot of effort in - it's been a pleasure to work in this ward."

Cllr Smith said that residents in the ward suggested she should run after hearing about Ms Jones' candidacy.

Ms Jones, who served as a Tory regional AM in South Wales East from 2003 to 2007, said she has lived in Llanbadoc all her life: "I just interviewed better on the night. The last thing I wanted to do was upset her, but that's politics."

Roy Garner, chairman of the Monmouth Conservative Association, said: "The process is a nationally recognised process. It was according to the rules and procedures. I have been given assurances by people that were on the panel that it was the same process for everybody."