Swansea West

[stb12]

Swansea West

[johng]

Swansea West is, along with Cardiff West, the only seat in Wales without a Labour candidate yet.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Torsten Bell, policy wonk from the Resolution Foundation, reportedly being lined up for this seat.

[LDCaerdydd]

This suggests that he is the candidate.

A row has erupted after the chief executive of a London-based think tank was made the general election candidate for a safe Labour seat in Wales.

Torsten Bell runs the Resolution Foundation, which researches issues relating to poverty. A panel appointed by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) has decided that he will be the party’s candidate in Swansea West on July 4.

Earlier this week it was confirmed that the seat’s incumbent MP Geraint Davies would not be standing for re-election because complaints alleging that he had sexually harassed a number of women remained unresolved. In line with an election timetable decided by the NEC, the choice of a new candidate for Swansea West was taken out of the hands of the local constituency Labour party (CLP) and delegated to the NEC panel.

A Welsh Labour insider told us that Swansea council leader Rob Stewart was seen as the obvious local choice for the candidacy.

The insider told us: “There’s little doubt that Rob would have been the choice of the CLP if they had been making the decision. He’s widely respected as one of the best local government leaders in Wales, and when Geraint was suspended because of the allegations he was facing it was assumed Rob would be the automatic choice to be the new candidate and MP.”

However, NationCymru has been told there were moves behind the scenes to install Huw David, until recently the leader of Bridgend council, as the Swansea West candidate. That, however, came to nothing, and it later emerged that Mr Bell had been chosen.

[doktorb🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️]

[johng]

May 31, 2024 8:49:47 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

Torsten Bell, policy wonk from the Resolution Foundation, reportedly being lined up for this seat.

There's going to be quite a lot of unhappiness in the CLP with this.

The council leader, Rob Stewart, had significant support.

[iain]

May 31, 2024 8:49:47 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

Torsten Bell, policy wonk from the Resolution Foundation, reportedly being lined up for this seat.

Reportedly the, ahem, brains, behind the ‘Ed stone’.

[🏴‍☠️ Neath West 🏴‍☠️]

Funny that the sitting Swansea MP didn't end up in Swansea "West". I wonder how Mr Tarquin Parachute would have gone down in Neath and a Tiny Bit of Swansea.

[Foggy]

May 31, 2024 20:26:05 GMT 🏴‍☠️ Neath West 🏴‍☠️ said:

Funny that the sitting Swansea MP didn't end up in Swansea "West". I wonder how Mr Tarquin Parachute would have gone down in Neath and a Tiny Bit of Swansea.

As you'll no doubt remember, former Neath MP Peter Hain was famously hyper-local. 

[greenhert]

May 31, 2024 21:36:03 GMT Foggy said:

May 31, 2024 20:26:05 GMT 🏴‍☠️ Neath West 🏴‍☠️ said:

Funny that the sitting Swansea MP didn't end up in Swansea "West". I wonder how Mr Tarquin Parachute would have gone down in Neath and a Tiny Bit of Swansea.

As you'll no doubt remember, former Neath MP Peter Hain was famously hyper-local. 

In fact during the 1991 Neath by election that elected Peter (now Lord) Hain, an Independent Labour candidate stood because of his then lack of connection to Neath.

[Clark]

Torsten Bell will surely go straight into the Treasury with his Economic expertise?

[iain]

www.swansea.gov.uk/noticesgeneralelection2024

7 candidates: Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem, Plaid, Reform, Green, TUSC