Decision day for Labour and Marvin Rees’ bid to be Bristol North …

The future political career of Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees - and that of the Mayor of Lewisham Damien Egan and South Gloucestershire councillor Leigh Ingham - will be decided on Sunday by fewer than 700 people, when the Labour ^[1] candidate for the new Bristol North East parliamentary seat is chosen.

Postal votes are now open for members of the Labour Party ^[2] who live within the new constituency, which won’t officially exist until the New Year, and will be contested for the first time at the General Election.

A final hustings event is to take place at the Bristol Metropolitan Academy in Fishponds on Sunday morning, with all three candidates vying for the position giving speeches, answering questions and debating why they should be chosen by Labour Party members.

As well as the Mayor of Bristol, the other two candidates are also elected politicians already. Leigh Ingham ^[4] is a Labour councillor on South Gloucestershire ^[5] Council representing Kingswood ^[6], who is the only one of the three to live in the new constituency.

She has the endorsement of a number of South Gloucestershire councillors, as well as the Co-operative Party. “My approach is collaborative, I enjoy bringing people together to create new communities and solutions,” she said.

“Bristol North East combines wards from two different authority areas, so it is important that the candidate selected can unite those areas, listening with members and the wider community and working closely with our activist base to galvanise our fellow constituents to vote Labour,” she added.

And also standing against Mr Rees is Damien Egan ^[7], who grew up in Kingswood, New Cheltenham and Staple Hill - where he began his political career as a young councillor, before moving to London. He is currently the directly-elected Mayor of Lewisham, and has moved to the constituency as part of his bid to win the nomination.

In launching his bid to be the Labour candidate ^[8], Mr Egan told Bristol Live he believed there was a ‘'better way' to do politics in Bristol. "What I’m hearing from people is that there must be a better way, I believe there is a better way, and it has to be people-focussed and community-focussed and we want to see Labour back in the grassroots again, talking to people with close relationships where everyone feels they are making a difference," he said.

Three people are standing to be Labour's parliamentary candidate for the new Bristol North East constituency at the next General Election, Damien Egan, Kingswood councillor Leigh Ingham, and Marvin Rees (Image: Bristol Live)

“I want to know people in the area and have a good relationship with people - that’s what I try to do in Lewisham and I want to be able to do it here. My family is here, my friends are here, I want to live here in the constituency. I know it can happen, I know we can do something really special, but obviously the selection is going to be really tough, so it’s just about being able to speak to people and hopefully I can earn their trust and earn their votes,” he added.

Mr Egan has won the endorsement of several leading Labour figures both in Bristol North East and nationally, including Mhairi Threlfall, a former member of Marvin Rees ^[9] ’ cabinet. But the Bristol Mayor is a clear favourite, and has regularly, almost daily, been updating his social media profiles with many more endorsements from Labour figures and allies in the city.

All three candidates have spent the past two weeks or more calling and knocking on the doors of the 693 members of the Labour Party in the new Bristol North East constituency, asking for their vote in Sunday’s ballot.

The election will be run on a first and second preference basis. If no one wins more than 50 per cent of the first preference votes, then the third placed candidate is eliminated and the second preferences of those voters is counted - in the same way the mayoral election for Bristol has been decided.

The new constituency has been created because Bristol's expanding population means the existing four constituencies were becoming too populous. The new constituency is almost exactly split geographically between the County of Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

It runs from Lockleaze across to Eastville, Fishponds and Hillfields in Bristol, with Staple Hill, New Cheltenham and Kingswood in South Gloucestershire. Around half the constituency is currently part of Bristol East, represented by Labour MP Kerry McCarthy, while the other half on the South Gloucestershire side is Kingswood, which has a Conservative MP, Chris Skidmore.

Kingswood's Labour councillor, and deputy Labour leader at the council, Leigh Ingham (Image: Bristol Live)

With the Kingswood seat being broken up - the southern section in Hanham is joining with the North East Somerset seat - Mr Skidmore is standing down at the next election. The seat is widely seen as a relatively safe Labour seat, so the decision of Labour members on their candidate is seen as an important one.

Bristol Live understands that of the 693 Labour Party members registered in the seat, the majority live in the Fishponds and Eastville areas on the Bristol side, which could give a further boost to Mr Rees's bid.

References

^{^} Labour (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Labour Party (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} How the race to be Labour candidate in new Bristol constituency is hotting up (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Leigh Ingham (leighingham.co.uk)
^{^} South Gloucestershire (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Kingswood (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Damien Egan (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} launching his bid to be the Labour candidate (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Marvin Rees (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Elected mayor coming home with hopes of being Bristol's next MP (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Bristol mayor says running for MP seat ‘won’t take away from day job’ (www.bristolpost.co.uk)