Alison McGovern has defeated her fellow Labour MP Mick Whitley in the race to be the party's candidate for the Birkenhead constituency at the next General Election.
Ms McGovern is the current Labour MP for the Wirral South constituency. Her seat will be abolished ahead of the next election thanks to a boundary review that will reduce the number of Wirral MPs from four to three.
Last month Ms McGovern announced that she would challenge for the nomination for the newly expanded Birkenhead seat. This put her in direct competition with current Birkenhead MP Mick Whitley, who said he would be looking to continue representing the constituency.
Matters were further complicated when Wirral West Labour MP Margaret Greenwood announced she would be standing down at the next election. This prompted Mr Whitley's team to call for Mc McGovern to opt for the vacant nomination in Wirral West, but she said she wanted to represent the Birkenhead seat as its new boundaries will contain her home.
Ms Greenwood later clarified that she had informed the Labour Party of her decision to stand down before Ms McGovern announced her plans to stand in Birkenhead.
Both sides have been campaigning hard in recent weeks. Ms McGovern welcomed former PM Gordon Brown to the constituency recently and shared support from ex leader Neil Kinnock. Mr Whitley was keen to stress his local roots and union background.
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Voting has been taking place amongst Birkenhead Labour members in recent weeks and those votes were counted today. The ECHO understands that Ms McGovern won the nomination with a comfortable 59% of the vote. The votes cast were 266 to 186 in favour of Ms McGovern.
Reacting to her win on Twitter, Ms McGovern said: "When this contest started, I told Labour Party members that I had been representing my hometown in Parliament for 13 years, and I wanted to continue to do so. I am so grateful that Labour Party members have chosen me to continue to do that in the new Birkenhead constituency at the next General Election.
"When the ballot closed, I told members that our new CLP deserves to be a united and welcoming group determined to make change for our area, whatever the outcome. I am committed to that promise, which must include those who voted for me as well as those who didn’t."
She praised Mr Whitley as a 'committed trade unionist and hardworking MP', adding: "I know that Mick, like myself & all those who voted for us today, share one overriding ambition for both of our current constituencies & for the future Birkenhead: a Labour government.
She added: "I am sorry the Boundary Commission abolished our Wirral South constituency for the next election. But I do I want to again reassure my constituents that I remain their MP & will continue to represent their interests until the moment they are included in their new constituencies.
"It has been an enormous privilege to represent the place and people that brought me up, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to continue to do so as we look to the future, which will hopefully include the next Labour Government."
A North West Labour spokesperson said: “Congratulations to Alison McGovern on her selection today. Thanks to Alison, fellow candidate Mick Whitley and all members across the new constituency of Birkenhead for taking part in the selection process.”
“It is regrettable that the boundary review meant two sitting Wirral Labour MPs have been forced to stand against one another. The selection procedure was designed to give all members across the new seat a chance to take part in selecting their candidate and as a result we saw a very high turnout.”
Mick Whitley in a statement expressed "great sadness" that he was not reselected, adding: "It wasn’t personal ambition that led me to first stand as Birkenhead’s Member of Parliament.
"I was driven – as I have for the entirety of my life in the labour movement – by a desire to serve the community to which I owe so much as well as by an unwavering conviction in the immense potential of the Labour Party to make meaningful change in the lives of those who need it most."
He further criticised Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) adding, "I do not believe that anyone who has our party’s best interests at heart could agree with a contest that pitted two sitting Labour MPs against each other, especially considering that the neighbouring seat of Wirral West will be vacant at the next general election.
"I am disappointed that this needless contest has sowed divisions in Birkenhead Labour Party at a time when all of our efforts should be focused on laying the foundations of a future Labour government."
Drawing on his industrial working class roots, he added: "I am afraid that our public life will be immeasurably poorer without the contributions of those of us who have invaluable experience of working life outside the rarefied world of Westminster."
He also said he fully intends to continue serving the remainder of his term, adding: "I also want to express my deep and enduring gratitude to everyone who voted and campaigned for me during this selection for the process."
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