Labour MP to fight for newly-created seat

Aug 29 2007 by Larry Neild, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL MP Maria Eagle has been chosen to fight what will be the city’s first-ever cross-boundary constituency.

The Garston Labour politician will contest the newly-created Garston and Halewood seat in the next general election.

She was chosen unanimously by party members after automatically qualifying as a prospective candidate for what is considered a safe Labour seat.

The new constituency has yet to be endorsed by parliamentary legislation, and it remained unclear last night whether the law could be changed quickly in the event of a snap election.

But all of the major political parties are already working on the assumption that the new constituency of 73,480 voters will be in place when the country decides whether to endorse Gordon Brown’s Labour government.

Ms Eagle’s adoption as prospective candidate has yet to be ratified by the Labour Party’s National Executive, though her endorsement is seen as a formality.

The Boundary Commission held a public inquiry in Liverpool in 2005 and eventually decided to reduce the number of Merseyside seats in the Commons from 16 to 15.

This is being done by scrapping the two Knowsley seats, creating one seat for Knowsley and adding Halewood to Garston and the Prescot and Whiston wards to St Helens South.

Despite protests to the Boundary Commission for England the new Garston and Halewood seat will lose its Liverpool tag.

The four remaining seats will continue to be known as Liverpool Riverside, Liverpool West Derby. Liverpool Wavertree and Liverpool Walton.

Last night Ms Eagle said: “I did make representations about the name not including the word Liverpool and I would have settled for South Liverpool, but the commission decided on calling the new constituency Garston and Halewood.”

Meanwhile, Knowsley North MP George Howarth has already been selected to stand in the new Knowsley seat, leaving Knowsley South MP Eddie O’Hara with no constituency in the next election.

He remains in the House of Commons until the next election, though his future in politics, should he decide to continue, will depend on him securing a new constituency.