UPDATE: The Labour race for Wavertree and Sefton Central

By David Bartlett on Nov 17, 09 05:08 PM

THE LABOUR party could decide as soon as Monday whether to have all women shortlists for the selection of candidates for two marginal seats.

Many in the party had anticipated that its National Executive Committee (NEC) would decide yesterday whether an all women shortlist or an open list should be used to select a candidate for the Wavertree seat.

Yesterday's meeting of the NEC set up a special selection panel that will hold its first meeting on Monday, a senior source said.

I understand that it will consider the fate of Sefton Central, and could consider that of Wavertree also.

The party's candidacy for Wavertree fell vacant after Jane Kennedy announced she would be standing down at the next General Election.

Wavertree vice-chairman Louise Baldock said the local party will meet on Friday to decide if it has a preference for an all women shortlist, or an open list.

Sefton Central is a new seat, created mostly out of the current Crosby seat which is occupied by Claire Curtis-Thomas who is standing down at the next General Election.

The local Sefton Central Labour party has already met to decide its preference, but the decision was not being made public the party said.

The NEC has also shortened the normal selection process for candidates to five weeks, the source said.**

**Below is the original blog post I wrote on this subject, you can see it has changed somewhat. I kept the original one as it had been up for a couple of hours before I received the latest information.

THE LABOUR party may have to wait weeks before it knows who will represent the it in two key marginal seats.

Many in the party had anticipated that its National Executive Committee (NEC) would decide today whether an all women shortlist or an open list should be used to select a candidate for the Wavertree seat.

North West regional officer Anna Hutchinson confirmed that the decision would not be made by the NEC and instead by its organisational sub-committee.

The party's candidacy for Wavertree fell vacant after Jane Kennedy announced she would be standing down at the next General Election.

It is anticipated that the sub-committee will meet before Christmas, and will decide the process to be followed for Wavertree and also Sefton Central.

Sefton Central is a new seat, created mostly out of the current Crosby seat which is occupied by Claire Curtis-Thomas who is standing down at the next General Election.

Wavertree vice-chairman Louise Baldock said the local party will meet on Friday to decide if it has preference for an all women shortlist, or an open list.

Sefton Central has already met to decide its preference, but Ms Hutchinson said its decision was not being made public.