Exclusive: Labour’s Rother Valley MP selection lists

LabourList has been sent the following longlist for Labour’s Rother Valley parliamentary selection race by a reliable source:

• Duncan Enright – Mayor of Witney, West Oxfordshire councillor, MEP candidate for South East in May
• Luke Farley – Chair of Elmet and Rothwell Labour; works for the NHS in Leeds
• Alison Hume – Screenwriter, MEP candidate for Yorkshire and the Humber in May, disability campaigner, from York
• Muhbeen Hussain – One of the Rotherham 12, founder of British Muslim Youth
• Eve Rose-Keenan – Rotherham West councillor
• Sophie Wilson – 23-year-old Sheffield councillor, works for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, involved with Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign

Sophie Wilson has the backing of the Fire Brigades Union. General secretary Matt Wrack said: “We desperately need more working class voices in the Parliamentary Labour Party and Sophie is an ideal candidate.

“As an active FBU member, Sophie has campaigned tirelessly against cuts to South Yorkshire fire and rescue service and she’s been an absolute ally of the Orgreave Truth and Justice campaign.”

Luke Farley has been endorsed by Momentum nationally – there is no local Momentum group in Rother Valley – and by Unite, ASLEF, GMB and CWU. It is thought that the contest will be ultimately between Farley and Wilson.

Rother Valley has historically been a safe seat for Labour but Kevin Barron, the sitting MP who is retiring, currently has a slim majority of 3,882 after dropping from over 7,000 in 2015, when UKIP came second.

The seat voted over 66% in favour of Leave in the 2016 EU referendum. At the last election, the Tory candidate came second with 40% of the vote and UKIP came a distant third.

Update, 6.50pm – LabourList has been sent the following shortlist for Labour’s Rother Valley selection:

• Duncan Enright – Mayor of Witney, West Oxfordshire councillor, MEP candidate for South East in May
• Luke Farley – Chair of Elmet and Rothwell Labour; works for the NHS in Leeds
• Alison Hume – Screenwriter, MEP candidate for Yorkshire and the Humber in May, disability campaigner, from York
• Sophie Wilson – 23-year-old Sheffield councillor, works for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, involved with Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign