A YORK lawyer has quit his campaign to become an MP for the city at next year’s General Election.

The Liberal Democrats have confirmed Nick Emmerson has resigned as the party’s candidate for the York Outer seat. A replacement is now being chosen less than 18 months before the poll.

No reasons have been given for Mr Emmerson’s decision, which was made at the start of December but has only now been announced.

The North Yorkshire-born partner in an international law firm was selected last February as the Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for the seat, which was created at the 2010 election and is currently held by Conservative MP Julian Sturdy.

At the time, Mr Emmerson, who has lived in York for about ten years, said his selection was an honour. The Lib Dems said he was an “experienced local compaigner who is passionate about York”.

Commenting on Mr Emmerson’s resignation, Dean Knapper, spokesman for York Outer Liberal Democrats, said: “I would like to thank Nick for his contribution to our campaign last year.

"We are now well into the process of selecting a new candidate and we look forward to continuing to campaign to elect a Liberal Democrat MP to serve the communities of York Outer in 2015."