Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves reselected to fight next general election

Rachel Reeves MP has been reselected by Leeds West party members as the person they want to fight the next general election.
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Ms Reeves, who has been the MP for Leeds West since 2010, was backed by all six of the Labour Party branches in her constituency.

Labour's trigger ballot process gives local members the choice between automatically reselecting their sitting MP as a candidate for an upcoming election, or triggering a full selection process in which someone else can challenge the incumbent for the candidacy.

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The Labour MPs 'triggered' so far are Hull MP Diana Johnson, along with Birmingham MP Roger Godsliff and London MP and Jeremy Corbyn critic Margaret Hodge.Ms Reeves resigned when Mr Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party in 2015 and supported Owen Smith when he ran against Mr Corbyn in 2016.

Rachel Reeves has been MP for Leeds West since 2010.Rachel Reeves has been MP for Leeds West since 2010.
Rachel Reeves has been MP for Leeds West since 2010.

But she said in April of this year she would be willing to serve in Corbyn's shadow cabinet if asked.Ms Reeves said she was 'honoured' to have been reselected in a message on her Facebook page.

She added: "In a process that has really energised our party members to get involved in Leeds West Labour Party, I am really pleased that once again the local party has put its trust in me.

"An election is imminent, so let’s now reach out and campaign to win a mandate to govern the country.

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"For all of us, the priority must be to get rid of this shambolic Tory government which have inflicted nearly a decade of austerity on us and now seem intent on taking us out of Europe with a chaotic no-deal Brexit - bad for jobs, security and peace.

"In its place let’s campaign for a Labour government to invest in our schools, hospitals and local communities, tackle the obscene inequalities in our society and deliver a green new deal to combat the climate emergency.

"Together we can do this - by the strength of our common endeavour we can achieve more together than we can alone."