A Parliamentary candidate has been drumming up local support – in Bolton, Liverpool and Leeds.

Simon Burgess, prospective Parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown, has been left red-faced after campaign leaflets urging voters to support “Our Local Voice” dropped on to the doormats of 20,000 Labour supporters across the country.

The mix-up was caused when the Croydon printing firm which produced the leaflets used an incorrect database for the addresses.

Mr Burgess said: “Instead of using the database we gave them, they used a database of party members they had from a different job.”

Mr Burgess only realised the mistake when he started to receive correspondence from residents in cities including Liverpool and Leeds asking why he wanted their vote.

Kevan Smith, 68, who lives in Bolton, said he couldn’t understand why a candidate 300 miles away was asking for his vote.

He added: “I thought it was very bizarre that the leaflet had been sent to me.

“Does that mean election news-letters meant for people in Bolton have been sent to Brighton?"

Mr Burgess said: “Unfortunately, it was entirely out of our hands because we had supplied the right information to the printing firm, which had always been reliable in the past.

“Luckily, it has all been sorted out now.”

The printers are now sending out new leaflets to Kemptown residents.