THE mother of Taunton Deane Conservative candidate Mark Formosa died today.

Winifred Formosa died at the age of 72 after a two weeks in a critical condition. She had battled scleroderma, a chronic auto-immune disease, for 17 years.

As reported, Mr Formosa temporarily withdrew from the election campaign to be at her bedside. A slight improvement in her condition allowed Mark to return to campaigning at the weekend, only for his mother to relapse yesterday.

Mr Formosa’s spokesman, John Thorne, said: “Mark is devastated by his mother’s death and we all send our deepest sympathies to him on his sad loss.

“She was Mark’s only close family, and she brought him up as a single parent from his early teens, struggling together to keep their family business afloat after his father suddenly left home.”