Women-only in Wirral West?

By Liam Murphy on Feb 11, 10 10:26 AM

IT LOOKS more likely than ever that Labour will have an all-women shortlist to choose a candidate to replace Stephen Hesford.

Wirral West constituency Labour party has - in line with party policy - said it wants an all-women list and is now awaiting their National Executive Committee (NEC) to draw up a choice of potentials.

The Wirral West Constituency Labour Party met recently to discuss the options, and is now awaiting the party's NEC subcommittee, which meets next Thursday

No names have surfaced so far, but I have been told the Wirral West CLP members will get to vote on their preferred candidate, possibly after a hustings.

However, with the NEC committee not meeting until late next week, and then maybe a couple of weeks to vote, it is likely to put whoever is chosen at quite a disadvantage - potentially just having a couple of months to campaign if there is a May election.

And if Gordon Brown calls a snap election sooner then Wirral West could find itself just having a candidate "parachuted in".

If Labour do choose a woman candidate for Wirral West it could see the ratio of male to female MPs in the borough reversed. At present we have Frank Field, Ben Chapman, Stephen Hesford and Angela Eagle.

Labour candidate Alison McGovern was chosen (in an all-women contest) in Wirral South to take on Tory Jeff Clarke after Ben Chapman announced he was standing down, and Angela Eagle is defending her seat from a strong challenge by the Conservatives' Leah Fraser in Wallasey. With the Wallasey Lib-Dems at 100-1 according to renowned political commentators William Hill, it looks likely a woman will be representing Wallasey.

Wirral West has the Conservatives' Esther McVey - who only lost out to Stephen Hesford by less than 1,000 votes in 2005 - and now the possibility that Labour will choose a woman to defend the seat, so unless Lib-Dem Peter Reisdorf can do something extraordinary we might reasonably expect a woman representing Wirral West after the General Election.

That's not to say it is in any way a certainty that these candidates will win. Wirral South also has Jamie Saddler for the Lib-Dems - who hold lots of council seats in the constituency - and Jeff Clarke weighing in with a strong Tory attempt on the seat, and Wirral South has independent and "anti-sleaze" candidate David Kirwan also battling it out with Peter Reisdorf for the Lib-Dems, against Labour and the Conservatives.

Birkenhead seems to be the only Wirral constituency without - at this point - a declared woman candidate.