Amina Ali confirms she has stepped down as Bradford West candidate

Amina Ali, who was selected as the Labour candidate to take on George Galloway in Bradford West four days ago, has confirmed that she has stepped down from her position. Rumours emerged late last night that Ali was resigning as a PPC, which LabourList reported this morning.

Ali, who is a Labour councillor in Tower Hamlets, says she made her decision because she could not move her children from London to Bradford. In a statement, she said:

“It is an honour and privilege to have been selected by members of Bradford West as the Labour candidate for the General Election. In all the years I have been a member, being chosen to fight a seat for the Party I love has been my dream.

“However, I am the mother of two children and despite my best efforts to make arrangements to bring them to Bradford for the next 70 days, particularly as one of them is doing her GCSEs, this would have caused massive disruption at a critical time. I would not have been able to do justice to the members of Bradford West CLP and the people of Bradford.

“Bradford West needs a candidate who is going to live in Bradford and be involved in the campaign for every moment of every day and I am unable to fulfil this commitment despite a strong wish to support the Labour Party to victory. The decision taken now will enable a new candidate to be selected for Bradford West to win the seat back for Labour.

“I remain very proud that I was the first British Somali woman ever selected to contest a target seat and I will continue to work within the Labour Party in future and during the campaign. I am sure everyone will understand I need to put my children first.”

There are several questions that now need to be answered. Most pressingly, why the selection process for a target seat was left so late in the parliament, and why it took over 12 hours from the story of Ali’s resignation breaking to it being confirmed. That lengthy news vacuum has been filled by rumours.

It is as yet unclear how the selection for a new candidate will take place in Bradford West, although it’s likely to be conducted by the National Executive Committee due to the timing – as well as the circumstances – of the selection.