Margaret Greenwood has announced that she will stand down as the Member of Parliament for Wirral West at the next General Election.
Labour MP Ms Greenwood was elected to the seat in 2015 when she defeated Conservative cabinet member Esther McVey. She has held the seat for Labour ever since.
But as preparations are made for the next General Election - which could arrive next year - the 64-year-old has said that this term will be her last.
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She said: "After a great deal of thought, I have decided that I will not put myself forward to stand to be a Member of Parliament at the next general election.
"It has been a great honour and a privilege to serve the people of Wirral West as their Member of Parliament since May 2015. I am grateful for all the support that I have received, both from the local community and from Labour Party members.
"I will continue to work on behalf of Wirral West residents up until the next general election".
The news adds an intriguing twist to the battle for seats in Wirral for the next election. A boundary review will see the Wirral South constituency broken up, with areas subsumed into the surrounding seats. The changes will see the number of MPs representing the Peninsular drop from four to three.
Yesterday Alison McGovern, whose Wirral South seat is being abolished, announced that she intended to run for the Labour nomination for the newly formed Birkenhead seat ahead of the next election.
Birkenhead as it currently stands is represented by Mick Whitley, who was elected in 2019. He told the ECHO he intends to stand again for the seat - setting up a potential Labour clash between the two sitting MPs.
The news that Ms Greenwood will not stand again in Wirral West presents a new twist in the saga. Parts of Ms McGovern's current seat will also be added into the new Wirral West and it could present a different opportunity for her.
Mr Whitley may well be hoping that Ms McGovern, the current shadow minister for employment, opts to head for Wirral West rather than take him on in Birkenhead, however the ECHO understands that Ms McGovern's position is unchanged from yesterday.
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