Wythenshawe and Sale East – the shortlist

The shotgun selection process for the Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election is coming to a close, with the final selection meeting taking place at 7pm on Friday night. Today a shortlisting committee of the NEC met to whittle down the long list to a shortlist of five – they are:

Rosa Battle is a Manchester City Councillor, serving on the council executive as the member for Culture and Leisure. The Battle family are prominent in Manchester politics – her father Jim is Deputy Police Comissioner and her uncle is former MP John Battle.

Catherine Hynes represents Urmston Ward as a councillor on Trafford Council. She was elected to the council in May 2012.

Mike Kane was a councillor in Northenden, and is a former teacher. More recently he’s been acting Chief Exec of Movement for Change, leading on their payday lenders campaign. He’s thought by many to be the frontrunner for the seat.

Suzannah Reeves is a Manchester City Councillor, representing Old Moat ward. She’s a Director at Oldham Sixth Form College, and was once involved in a row over Aidan Burley’s conduct during a Holocaust talk at Auschwitz.

Sophie Taylor is the councillor for Clifford Ward on Trafford Council. She’s also an NHS Physiotherapist & MMU lecturer.

All five are local. All five have been local councillors (4 are currently councillors). And four are women.

Not your average by-election sort list, when you look at it like that….