Former Redcar MP Anna Turley wins selection battle to return as candidate

The former Labour MP Anna Turley has won her selection battle to stand again in the Redcar constituency.

Turley, who lost her seat in the 2019 general election, tweeted last night: “Thank you more than I can say to the fabulous members of[Redcar Labour]selecting me to be their parliamentary candidate at the next election. I can’t wait to get campaigning to give people here the best representation and help get a Labour government to fix the country!”

Her campaign had emphasised that “for too long, we’ve been told we should put up with second best”, but she understood why “people felt Labour had lost its way”.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting called her selection “brilliant news”, and Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Kyle said he “couldn’t be happier”. Another supporter noted “everyone thought she’d leave but she didn’t” after losing the seat.

Redcar and Cleveland means the world to me but for too long, we’ve been told we should put up with second best. I can’t stand by and let that go on. That’s why I’m standing to be selected as your Labour MP again.

Join the team 👇https://t.co/vpC427aQFM pic.twitter.com/nitEXzinF9

— Anna Turley 🌹🐝💙🇺🇦 (@annaturley) June 14, 2023

A campaign video highlighted her work locally since the 2019 election, including chairing the North East Commission on Child Poverty, serving as a school governor and launching a children’s book club.

Turley is also chair of the non-profit Labour Local Government Campaigns Co-operative, which aims to support comms and campaigning work. She has worked too as a sports consultant for the Betting and Gaming Council, and warned Labour against “moralising superiority that suggests people can’t be trusted to spend to spend their own money”.

Turley had been a vocal critic of both Brexit and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn before her exit from parliament. She acknowledged at the time she was “taking a risk” opposing Brexit in a Leave-backing constituency, but said she would “never take one step that loses one of my constituents a job”.

She served as a shadow minister for civil society between 2015 and June 2016, but resigned as part of a wave of departures in protest at Corbyn’s leadership.