The controversial process to select a Labour candidate to run as the first mayor of the new North East combined authority has whittled the candidates down to two.
The party has revealed its shortlist for the top job, with favourite and current Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuiness coming up against former North East MEP Paul Brannen.
Whoever wins will go into the mayoral race as heavy favourites to lead the new combined authority covering Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham.
There was no place on the shortlist for serving Newcastle city councillor Nicu Ion, who made history in 2021 as the first Roma migrant to be elected as a councillor in the UK.
The Elswick councillor was part of the three-candidate long list that caused outrage in some corners of the Labour Party with the omission of current North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll.
Mr Brannen is a Tyneside native, who stood as a Labour candidate for the North East in 2014, and served until the UK left the EU in 2019. He also spent five years as a councillor on Newcastle City Council.
The ex-MEP also unsuccessfully ran for parliament twice, coming second in the Berwick constituency in 1997 and again in the Hexham constituency in 2001.
Newcastle-born Kim McGuinness was elected to represent the Lemington ward on Newcastle City Council in 2015, joining the cabinet in 2016. She went on to become the PCC in 2019 following a by-election, succeeding Dame Vera Baird. She was subsequently re-elected in 2021.
The battle to secure the Labour candidacy had been viewed by political insiders as a straight fight between Mr Driscoll - described as the 'last Corbynista in power' - and Keir Starmer ally Ms McGuinness.
Labour has not officially explained why Mr Driscoll was excluded, but party sources said it would be "impossible" for the former city councillor to stand after he shared a platform with filmmaker Ken Loach, who was expelled from Labour amid a row over antisemitism.
Both Ms McGuinness and Mr Brannen have been contacted for comment.
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