Laura Davies: Shrewsbury's Labour candidate says she is staying after effort to deselect her
Labour's parliamentary candidate for Shrewsbury, Dr Laura Davies, has announced her intention to stay in her post – just three weeks after her local party members passed a vote calling on her to step down.
Dr Davies, who has contested the last two general elections for the Labour Party in the Shrewsbury & Atcham constituency, said she was committed to trying to win the seat from Conservative Daniel Kawczynski – who has won the seat on the previous four occasions.
It comes after an extraordinary meeting last month where members of the Shrewsbury & Atcham Constituency Labour Party (CLP) passed a vote of no confidence in Dr Davies and called on her to step down.
The matter was complicated when the national Labour Party confirmed that motions of no confidence have no binding effect and said the issue was a matter for the CLP.
Dr Davies informed the members of the Shrewsbury & Atcham Constituency Labour Party (CLP) of her decision to stay in the post earlier this week.
Focussed
It is unclear if that is the end of the matter and if there will be any further attempt from the CLP members to have Dr Davies de-selected.
The candidate said she is now focussed on trying to win the seat for her party.
She said: "I have the backing of the party leadership, I am the National Executive Committee-endorsed candidate, I was selected in a robust and proper process, now it is time – in the face of collapsing public services and a Conservative government making a complete hash of it – that we need a Labour government, and to do that we need to win places like Shrewsbury.
"I am committed to the area, and it would be an honour to represent Shrewsbury in parliament, and that is what I intend to do."
Dr Davies said she hoped the end of the dispute within the CLP would be at an end.
She said: "Rather than focussing on internal matters I think the most important job for any political party is to hold an incumbent to account and campaign to improve services and the lives of people in their area and that is what I plan to do."
