Bethany Rielly
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FORMER Labour MP Emma Dent Coad has been excluded from standing as a candidate in a decision described as a “travesty of justice.”
In a statement released today, Ms Coad, who served as the MP for Kensington between 2017 and 2019, said she was “devastated that the Labour Party has blocked me from standing to once again represent my community.”
She said local members have been denied the opportunity to vote in a “free and fair contest,” saying that fairness has been “sacrificed for the sake of factional intrigue from Labour officials.”
“If I have been outspoken in my politics, it is due to my passion and care for Kensington — for my neighbours and friends — and because of my burning desire to stamp out injustice and build a fairer, more equal society,” the statement reads.
“It is plain as day that the candidate selection process now being run by the party is being factionally abused and is not fit for purpose.”
Ms Dent Coad, a former member of the left Socialist Campaign Group within the party and an ally of ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn, became the first Labour MP to represent Kensington, winning the seat by 20 votes in a shock victory for the party in 2017.
She lost the seat to Tory MP Felicity Buchanan two years on, by just 150 votes, after the People’s Vote campaign argued that the only way to defeat the Conservatives in the seat was to vote Lib Dem.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell MP described the decision as “outrageous” and said that the “blockings don’t just undermine Labour’s broad church, they ride roughshod over the rights of our local parties and trade unions.
“We need Keir Starmer to urgently intervene and ensure fair process.”
A Momentum spokesperson said: “It is a travesty of justice that passionate, popular advocates for their community like Emma are being blocked en masse by Keir Starmer’s Labour on spurious grounds, so loyalists from outside the area can be parachuted in.
“This is a deeply damaging episode for the Labour Party in Kensington, and one that local people are unlikely to forget.”
A Labour source told the Star: “It’s right that the Labour party expects prospective MPs to uphold the highest standards. Under Keir’s leadership that’s not going to change.”
