Suspend women-only shortlist for would-be Labour MP
I was slightly misreported in last week’s Burnley Express as calling for Julie Cooper to step aside because of the activities of the Unite union which has been engaging in what it describes as “furious beneath the water activities” in support of its chosen slate of candidates.
I did call for the selection to be suspended, as it has been in Falkirk, so the murky waters created by Unite’s shenanigans can be cleared up.
Those questions also extend to the acceptance by Burnley Labour of an all-women shortlist, last seen in Burnley when they were picking Kitty Ussher. Julie Cooper herself opposed a women-only selection in 2009 when she said “I think this decision (to have an all women shortlist) was being seen as a weakness in the town and people weren’t happy about it.”
Hwyel Morgan
Liberal Democrat agent at the 2010 General Election