These are Labour's three candidates to be the next West Yorkshire mayor

The shortlist announced by the party is Bradford council leader Susan Hinchcliffe, lawyer Hugh Goulbourne and Batley & Spen MP Tracy Brabin.

Whoever is chosen as Labour's candidate will be favourite to win the mayoral election next May, despite the Conservatives' success in West Yorkshire in December's General Election.

The shortlisted candidates were agreed by a joint selection panel made up of the party's ruling National Executive Committee and regional officials following interviews.

There will now be a campaign and hustings period, with the ballot opening on November 23 and closing at midday on December 11.

Coun Hinchcliffe, who was born and bred in Bradford, also chairs the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and was heavily involved in the devolution talks which led to the creation of the mayoral role.

Her key pledges to win the support of Labour members for the party’s candidacy are focused on equality, prosperity for all communities, a cleaner, greener economy, 21st century transport and housing.

Mr Goulbourne writes on his website that he was shaped by by his background growing up as a "mixed-race kid" in Coventry in the 1980s "amid neglected, divided communities, and surrounded by factory closures, crumbling schools and hospital waiting lists".

The father-of-two advised the last Labour government on fuel poverty and environmental issues and says that as a lawyer he is "used to working with business leaders locally and internationally in a wide variety of sectors".

Ms Brabin, a former Coronation Street actor who served in Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet, says her “immediate priority will be to build on work underway already to establish a Job Creation Taskforce to create good, unionised jobs and retraining opportunities”.

She has been endorsed by Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker, who described her as "a beacon of real and exciting change".

The mayoral election will take place in May next year and whoever is elected will gain control over a host of budgets and powers previously held by central government.