Labour will not treat Bracknell as a “battleground” at the next general election, the party has said – despite the fact that local members think they stand a chance of replacing the Conservative MP.

The Labour Party last week began choosing its candidate to challenge Bracknell MP James Sunderland in a general election likely to take place next year.

But it is included in a list of some 211 places across Britain the party has branded “non-battleground” seats – meaning it’s not a priority in the party’s national campaigning.

That’s despite the fact that the Electoral Calculus website – which uses polls to guess the outcome of the next general election – predicts that Labour could replace Bracknell’s Conservative MP.

READ MORE: ‘We can unseat James Sunderland’ in Bracknell, says Labour

Bracknell Labour Party chair Roy Bailey insisted that Bracknell is 'winnable' for Labour – despite party bosses branding it 'non-battleground.'

He said: “Normally we wouldn’t be talking about this as winnable but everywhere’s winnable now. There’s hundreds of seats now deemed to be ‘non-battleground’ but they’ve been overwhelmed by them.”

Mr Bailey added that as the ‘non-battleground’ label meant that Labour won’t put national campaigning resources into Bracknell, it would be up to local party members to do the work.

He said: “There are so many seats now that are potentially winnable for us, they can’t resource all of them. It will rely on all the activists in those constituencies – who do most of the work anyway.”

Bracknell MP James Sunderland said he couldn’t comment on Labour’s campaign – and that he is focussing on his work to serve Bracknell residents.

He said: “It is not for me to comment on Labour’s selection process. I am just focused on working hard for those I proudly serve, as you would expect of a military man who gets things done”.