The Conservative party have selected a new mayoral candidate who says there needs to be a war on "wasteful spending."

Ross Archer, Chairman of the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association, will stand for the party at next year’s election.

Mr Archer, who is from Sydenham, has criticised Lewisham Council’s handling of the Millwall compulsory purchase order and has called on the current mayor to stand down as the investigation is ongoing.

Mr Archer said: “It is a huge honour and a privileged to have seen selected as the Conservative candidate for mayor of Lewisham. I am excited to hit the campaign trail and meet many more residents and hear their views and concerns. I am really proud to be a Lewisham resident and I want the best for our borough.

“However our borough faces a number of challenges such as, getting better quality public transport, getting a better deal from developers on genuinely affordable housing, ensuring the mistakes of the botched Millwall CPO are never again repeated, protecting Beckenham Place Park, tackling air pollution that leads to so many premature deaths, cleaning up our streets – getting tough on the fly-tippers who blight our community and waging war on the huge amount of wasteful spending at the Town Hall.”

Mr Archer has lived in Lewisham for 21 years, working now as a manager at a not-for-profit organisation.

He has also been a school governor and Scout leader.

He said: “Next May Lewisham will elect its new mayor, during this time I will be outlining my plan to residents and explaining how I will ensure Lewisham can have a better future.”

The Conservatives came second at the last mayoral election in 2014.