The process to select the Labour candidate to contest the Truro and Falmouth parliamentary constituency in the next general election has been narrowed down to a shortlist of two: Jayne Kirkham and Noah Law.
LabourList revealed earlier this year that the seat is one of a first tranche of 14 in which the Constituency Labour Party (CLP) has been allowed to begin the process of picking its candidates for parliament early.
Former trade union lawyer Jayne Kirkham is a local Labour councillor for Falmouth Penwerris and the leader of the Labour group on Cornwall Council. She has been endorsed by Labour MP Ben Bradshaw and frontbencher Thangam Debbonaire.
The Labour group leader, who lives in Falmouth, previously stood as the party’s candidate for the Truro and Falmouth constituency in the 2017 general election, in which the Conservative majority was reduced from 14,000 votes to 3,792.
“My career reflects my Labour values: starting as a trade union lawyer for people injured at work or sacked, then a teaching assistant at a local secondary school. Now, I am Leader of the Labour group on Cornwall Council and a Falmouth Town councillor,” Kirkham told LabourList.
“I am already a trusted local representative and have a history of delivering for local people and achieving real change like pushing Cornwall Council to declare a climate emergency and set a 2030 carbon neutral target back in 2019, winning £3.5m in a budget amendment for mental healthcare in our schools, and new procurement rules prioritising spending council money locally on organisations that benefit our people and environment.
“I have already won local elections in Truro and Falmouth, increasing my vote each time, and we tripled the Labour vote here in the 2017 general election when I was the candidate. I want to be a strong voice for Cornwall in a Labour government finding solutions to the big issues that face us here – our housing crisis, our struggling health and care services and a fairer green economy.”
Kirkham is joined on the shortlist of two by development finance professional Noah Law. Law invests in capital on behalf of the state of Finland into companies and projects that improve the economic development of poorer countries. He has described himself as the candidate for “green jobs and prosperity”.
“I grew up in Cornwall, studying at Truro College and Exeter University’s Penryn Campus and have been campaigning with Labour since the tuition fee protests,” Law told LabourList.
“I work for a publicly-owned investment fund, where I helped invest half a billion pounds in projects in developing countries, but have come home to put this experience to use.”
“With need a candidate with a passion for working with businesses to create high-quality, green jobs in Cornwall’s most promising industries. We need to provide truly affordable housing so working people can afford to live here.
“We need a candidate who, coming from a family of nurses and teachers, knows what’s needed to fix the problems endemic in our public services due to Tory austerity. We need a strong socialist voice for Cornish prosperity in Westminster.”
LGBT+ Labour national secretary and secretary of Socialist Societies Joe Vinson announced earlier this year that he would stand to be the Labour candidate in the seat, but withdrew from the race at the end of May and endorsed Kirkham.
Now that the shortlist has been created, the candidates are allowed to contact local Labour members directly to canvass them for their support. They will then take part in a hustings before the vote, with a result expected around June 21st.
In addition to the 14 seats included in the first tranche for early selection processes, LabourList revealed that the party’s national executive committee approved a further 21 CLPs to start picking their candidates last month.
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