Labour now has a virtually full slate of parliamentary candidates for the general election, filling more than two dozen last-minute selections after the campaign began in seats where candidates stood down, faced deselection or had not yet been chosen.
We have a list below of those selected, though candidates need to be found in Witney after the incumbent stood down and Gosport’s candidate was not endorsed by the national executive committee, for reasons that are not yet clear.
Panels of Labour national executive committee members have been making appointments at pace with the election so close, rather than local parties and members having a say.
Six pro-leadership members of the NEC itself have now been picked themselves for these seats – chair James Asser, Gurinder Singh Josan, Luke Akehurst, LGA Labour leader Nesil Caliskan, Unison’s Mark Ferguson, and Usdaw’s Michael Wheeler in late selections, on top of former chair Joanna Baxter’s selection prior to the campaign. It means seven of the 31 members of the NEC who are not already MPs, some 22.6%, have now been selected.
Former Keir Starmer aide Chris Ward was also picked in Brighton after Lloyd Russell-Moyle’s last-minute deselection, former Rachel Reeves adviser Heather Iqbal, and Starmerite think tank Labour Together’s director Josh Simons. A senior Labour legal official, Alex Barros-Curtis, was also selected.
Other selections last week include Brent councillor Shama Tatler, replacing longstanding, now-deselected Chingford and Woodford Green candidate Faiza Shaheen, and TUC head of campaigns and communications Antonia Bance for Tipton and Wednesbury.
The allocation of seats by NEC members to other NEC members was condemned by one union boss as “jobs for the boys” and by left campaign group Momentum, while critics have called deselections a “purge” of the left. Thirteen of the seats below have been handed to men and nine to women. Shaheen is seeking a legal challenge of her de-selection, condemning an alleged “factional agenda”.
But a Labour spokesperson said: “We have selected a fantastic group of candidates in place for the General Election on Thursday 4 July. They will be campaigning across the country to bring Labour’s message of change to voters.”
A party source added that the Prime Minister calling a surprise summer election meant selections needed to take place through emergency procedures.
The last-minute selections came after a flurry of Labour MPs announced that they would be standing down after the general election was called last week. Some seats required a new Labour candidate due to the suspension of the sitting MP, one new constituency needed a candidate, and some more non-Labour-held seats have either never had a candidate or seen theirs stand down or (in the case of Faiza Shaheen) deselected.
Here is our rolling list of the candidates selected, which will be updated with new announcements as we get them:
Remaining retirement seats
- Birmingham Selly Oak (West Midlands). Steve McCabe →Alistair Carns
- Cardiff West (Wales). Kevin Brennan → Alex Barros-Curtis
- Ealing Southall (London). Virendra Sharma → Deidre Costigan
- Gateshead Central and Whickham, formerly Gateshead (North East). Ian Mearns →Mark Ferguson
- Halifax (Yorkshire and The Humber). Holly Lynch → Kate Dearden.
- Leyton and Wanstead (London). John Cryer → Calvin Bailey
- Makerfield (North West). Yvonne Fovargue → Josh Simons.
- North Durham (North East). Kevan Jones → Luke Akehurst.
- Queens Park and Maida Vale, formerly Westminster North (London). Karen Buck → Georgia Gould.
- Smethwick, formerly Warley (West Midlands). John Spellar → Gurinder Singh Josan
- Sunderland Central (North East). Julie Elliott → Lewis Atkinson
- West Ham and Beckton, formerly West Ham (London). Lyn Brown → James Asser
- Worsley and Eccles, formerly Worsley and Eccles South (North West). Barbara Keeley →Michael Wheeler
Late deselections, controversies or suspensions
- Barking (London). Darren Rodwell (stood down) → Nesil Caliskan.
- Brighton Kemptown (South East). Lloyd Russell-Moyle (deselected) → Chris Ward
- Chingford and Woodford Green (London), Faiza Shaheen (deselected)→ Shama Tatler
- Swansea West (Wales). Geraint Davies (deselected) → Torsten Bell
- Hackney North and Stoke Newington (London) Diane Abbott (was suspended) → Diane Abbott.
- Hyndburn (North West), Graham Jones (deselected) → Sarah Smith.
New seats
- Stratford and Bow (London) → Uma Kumaran
Target seats
- Altrincham and Sale West (North West), (initial candidate stood down) – Connor Rand
- Birmingham Northfield (West Midlands), (initial candidate stood down) → Laurence Turner
- Dewsbury and Batley (Yorkshire and the Humber) – Heather Iqbal.
- Dudley (West Midlands) – Sonia Kumar
- Rochdale (North West) – Paul Waugh
- Tipton and Wednesbury (West Midlands) → Antonia Bance
Non-target seats
- Witney – Georgia Meadows (initial candidate stood down) →
- Gosport – Edward Batterbury →
Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.
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