Tony Lloyd selected to replace Danczuk and fight Rochdale

Tony Lloyd has been selected to contest Rochdale at the general election in June.

Lloyd, the former Manchester Central MP and current police and crime commissioner for Manchester – whose duties have been subsumed into the new metro mayor position, has been chosen to contest the seat after Simon Danczuk was barred from contesting it for Labour.

Danczuk has been suspended by the Labour party since he was discovered sexting a 17 year old girl and after being blocked from the Labour ticket decided to resign his membership.

Lloyd’s selection has provoked some dispute, with former Morecambe and Lonsdale PPC and Gorton shortlisted candidate Amina Lone tweeting:

.@UKLabour Very poor decision. Are you incapable of nurturing/supporting new talent. No wonder people have little faith in politics #GE2017 https://t.co/I0Oi2CriNW

— Amina Lone (@Amina_Lone) May 8, 2017

Danczuk posted a 12,442 majority in 2015, although this was perhaps unusually high as a result of the national collapse of the Lib Dem vote in a seat once held by them.