Exclusive: 14 key seats allowed to select Labour MP candidates early – revealed

LabourList can exclusively reveal the 14 constituencies with local parties that are allowed by the Labour Party to start selecting their new parliamentary candidates imminently ahead of the next general election.

The list agreed by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) includes four Labour-held seats – currently represented by Kate Green, Alan Whitehead, Barry Sheerman and Rosie Winterton, all standing down – and ten Tory seats.

14 seats allowed by Labour to select their candidates early:

Stretford and Urmston (Lab)
Southampton Test (Lab)
Huddersfield (Lab)
Doncaster Central (Lab)
Bury North (Con)
Gedling (Con)
Warrington South (Con)
Burnley (Con)
Leigh (Con)
Stroud (Con)
Truro and Falmouth (Con)
Milton Keynes South (Con)
York Outer (Con)
Carlisle (Con)

Local parties in the specified 14 constituencies are being given the go ahead by the NEC to start selecting their candidates for the general election that Labour strategists expect to take place in 2023.

Most will not be able to kick off their selection processes straight away, however, as they are preparing for local elections taking place across the country on May 5th.

Two of the seats – York Outer and Gedling – do not have local elections to focus on this year and therefore should not have to wait until after polling day to begin the process.

But LabourList understands that this is likely to be complicated by a lack of capacity at the regional level. Recent months have seen large-scale redundancies across the party caused by poor Labour finances.

Staff cuts have led to Yorkshire and the Humber telling York Outer that it cannot yet select council candidates for 2023, despite the local party being ready to choose them.

Labour intends to complete trigger ballots for sitting MPs by June. The hundreds of local parties other than the initial 14 will hold their selection contests between June and March 2023.

If you have any tips on who is interested in standing as a Labour parliamentary candidate in these seats (or any other), please get in touch on Twitter or by email.