Shrewsbury Labour candidate row to to be settled locally

Earlier this week Shrewsbury & Atcham Constituency Labour Party (CLP) passed a motion of confidence in its own parliamentary candidate, Dr Laura Davies.

It has now emerged that the Labour's ruling body, the National Executive Committee, will not act on the vote, and it will be down to the candidate and her own local party members to decide on the way forward.

The motion passed at Wednesday night's meeting called on Dr Davies to resign from her position.

However, in terms of Labour Party process, motions of no confidence do not have any formal standing within rules and procedures.

It is understood that the move of a CLP to de-select a candidate is new territory, without a precedent.

The meeting was attended by around 130 people, and an official comment from the Shrewsbury Labour Party said the motion had been carried by a "decisive majority".

'Decisive'

The statement also rejected suggesting that the vote had been organised by a faction with an agenda against their candidate.

It said: "At a packed special meeting of the Shrewsbury & Atcham Constituency Labour Party on Wednesday evening, a decisive majority of members passed a motion of no confidence in Dr Davies, our parliamentary candidate, and asked her to step down.

"The members who attended represented a complete cross section of members, including long standing and newer members and cast their votes after a full discussion.

"It is therefore incorrect to describe this as the action of a small group. Shrewsbury & Atcham needs a Labour MP and the constituency party is intent on being united and fighting fit for the next general election."