Coventry MPs may face votes to remain Labour candidates

Two Coventry MPs could face battles with their own party to remain Labour candidates at the next general election.

The BBC understands Taiwo Owatemi and Zarah Sultana are at risk of facing votes that could see them deselected.

Party members in their constituencies are organising to try to meet the required threshold to trigger a vote.

Labour's National Executive Committee signed off the rules around candidate selection this week.

Local parties can force a full selection process if a majority of local party and affiliate branches vote to trigger a contest.

It comes as the party gears up for a general election - possibly as soon as 2023.

Some constituency Labour Party (CLP) members in Coventry were left deeply unhappy at the candidate selection process during the 2019 snap general election.

There were claims it was a "stitch-up" and suggested the national Labour Party had imposed candidates loyal to then leader Jeremy Corbyn in the two Coventry seats left vacant by the retirements of long-serving MPs Geoffrey Robinson and Jim Cunningham.

No local councillors were on the party's shortlists in Coventry South, where Zarah Sultana is the MP, and Coventry North West, Taiwo Owatemi's constituency.

Some members claim the election results were an indicator that Coventry voters were also unhappy with the choices of Labour candidates as they held on to the two seats by a whisker.

In 2017 Coventry North West had a Labour majority of 8,580 and Coventry South had a Labour winning margin of 7,947 - but in 2019 that fell to 208 in Coventry North West and 400 in Coventry South.

However, those drops came on an election night that saw Labour's share of the vote nationally drop from 40% to 32% and the party lose 60 seats.

Some senior members of the CLP in Coventry South have also grown increasingly frustrated at Ms Sultana's habit of speaking out against the party leadership and causing controversy, such as when she was pictured with anti-police banners at a rally recently, something she later apologised for.

Local organisers have told the BBC the original plan was to try to force trigger ballots - votes to decide if they should remain as the party's candidate - as soon as December, but that could now be pushed back after a by-election was called in North Shropshire for 16 December.

Four local councillors have been named locally as possible challengers to the incumbent MPs, Earlsdon councillors Becky Gittins and Antony Tucker, Jim O'Boyle, the cabinet member for jobs and regeneration at Coventry City Council, and Kindy Sandhu, the authority's cabinet member for education.

All four failed to rule themselves out when approached by the BBC.

Ms Sultana has yet to comment on the selection process, but Ms Owatemi said: "I have loved being the Labour Member of Parliament for Coventry North West for nearly two years now.

"Standing up for my constituents both in our city and in Westminster is a real privilege and a role I take incredibly seriously."

She added she would "very much like to continue in my role" and "restand as the Labour parliamentary candidate at the next general election".

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