Labour members set to choose final candidate for metro mayor races

The winner of the selection for the final Labour candidate for the metro mayoral contests is due to be named tomorrow.

Members are choosing from a shortlist of two councillors to be the party’s pick for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor.

The two candidates are Fiona Onasanya and Kevin Price, both councillors for King’s Hedges, in Cambridge city. Onasanya also works as a solicitor, and Price is deputy leader and executive councillor for housing on Cambridge city council.

This is the final mayoral selection of the winter which has seen a series of big names such as Andy Burnham, the former health secretary, and Sion Simon, an MEP and former minister, win out after tough regional competitions. We have a full run down here of who is running and where.

If Onasanya is selected she would be the third female candidate chosen to run for Labour in the landmark metro mayoral elections, after Lesley Mansell in the West of England and Sue Jeffrey in Tees Valley.

Cambridge city is currently represented in the Commons by Labour’s Daniel Zeichner, who has a slim 599 vote majority over the Liberal Democrats. The MP for Peterborough is Tory, though Labour came second in 2015, just 1,925 votes behind. The surrounding area is mostly Tory-dominated, suggesting whoever wins selection faces a stiff battle to win the regional mayoralty for Labour.

The Tories won a majority of votes in the parliamentary seats which make up Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, according to a recent study by the Centre for Cities for The Times.

It said the Tories achieved 45.6 per cent support in the region, with Labour on 21.8 per cent. UKIP were slightly ahead of the Lib Dems, on 14.4 per cent and 13.2 per cent respectively. The Greens were on 4.7 per cent.

The same report put Labour is ahead in four of the six regions to be contested – Tees Valley, Liverpool City region, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.