Labour opens selection processes for 94 “non-priority” parliamentary seats

The Labour Party has opened selection processes for more than 90 “non-priority” parliamentary seats, as the party looks to speed up the selection of its candidates ahead of the next general election.

The party this week released a list of 94 seats that are now open for selection – including constituencies currently represented in parliament by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, former Prime Ministers Theresa May and Liz Truss and former deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab.

The party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) agreed a streamlined process for selecting candidates in non-priority seats at its meeting in May – with such seats initially defined as those with a Tory majority of more than 40%, according to NEC member Luke Akehurst.

In a report following the meeting, Akehurst said selections in non-priority seats will involve a “review by an NEC panel of any due diligence concerns about applicants” and then move straight to shortlisting by a panel made up of three members of the Constituency Labour Party (CLP).

Akehurst said CLP panels “may either run a contest if there are multiple suitable candidates or announce a shortlist of one if there is only one suitable applicant”, adding that an NEC representative has to sign off the final shortlist and can refer it to the chair of the party’s organisation sub-committee for “final adjudication”.

According to fellow NEC member Ann Black, an initial proposal would have seen two regional executive committee (REC) members plus one CLP representative undertake shortlisting, which she argued would give local parties “even less of a voice than the full procedure”.

The long-standing NEC member reported that it was subsequently decided that shortlisting would be undertaken by three CLP members including an affiliate representative “where available”.

Momentum claimed that the initial proposal was an attempt to “further disenfranchise” local members and had been “successfully resisted”.

According to Akehurst’s report from the NEC meeting this week, 119 parliamentary candidates have now been selected by the party. Black reported in May that, apart from seven selection processes underway at the time, all further selections by the party will be made on new boundaries.

The four Boundary Commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland submitted their final recommendations for new constituency boundaries in June and now await approval by the Privy Council.

94 non-priority seats open for selection:

Aldridge-Brownhills
Arundel and South Downs
Basildon and Billericay
Beaconsfield
Bexhill and Battle
Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
Braintree
Brentwood and Ongar
Bridgwater
Brigg and Immingham
Bromsgrove
Castle Point
Central Suffolk and North Ipswich
Chatham and Aylesford
Cheltenham
Chichester
Chippenham
Christchurch
Clacton
Dorking and Horley
Droitwich and Evesham
East Grinstead and Uckfield
East Surrey
East Wiltshire
Eastbourne
Eastleigh
Epping Forest
Esher and Walton
Fareham and Waterlooville
Farnham and Bordon
Faversham and Mid Kent
Godalming and Ash
Goole and Pocklington
Gosport
Guildford
Hamble Valley
Harrogate and Knaresborough
Havant
Henley and Thame
Hertsmere
Honiton and Sidmouth
Horsham
Kingswinford and South staffordshire
Lewes
Lichfield
Maidenhead
Maldon
Melksham and Devizes
Meriden and Solihull East
Mid Buckinghamshire
Mid Dorset and North Poole
Mid Norfolk
Newbury
North Cornwall
North Devon
North Dorset
North East Hampshire
North Herefordshire
North Norfolk
North West Essex
North West Hampshire
North West Norfolk
Oxford West and Abingdon
Rayleigh and Wickford
Richmond and Northallerton
Romsey and Southampton North
Sevenoaks
Sittingbourne and Sheppey
South Basildon and East Thurrock
South Shropshire
South Suffolk
South West Norfolk
St Albans
St Ives
Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge
Stratford-on-Avon
Sussex Weald
Taunton and Wellington
Tewkesbury
Thirsk and Malton
Thornbury and Yate
Tiverton and Minehead
Tonbridge
Torbay
Torridge and Tavistock
Wells and Mendip Hills
West Dorset
West Suffolk
West Worcestershire
Wetherby and Easingwold
Winchester
Witham
Wyre Forest
Yeovil

The Labour Party has been approached for comment.