Mayor Election 2016 / News
Two on shortlist for Labour mayor candidate
Marvin Rees and Mark Bradshaw will fight it out to be selected as Bristol Labour Party’s candidate for the mayoral election.
Rees, Labour’s defeated candidate in the last election, and Bradshaw, a current member of George Ferguson’s cabinet, will compete for the support of members before the selection is announced in September.
Labour are likely to provide the biggest competition to incumbent Ferguson who is aiming for a second term in office.
No other party has announced its candidates yet. The mayoral election will take place next May alongside elections for all other city council seats.
Phil Gaskin, Labour South West Regional Director, said: “I am pleased to confirm that the panel have put together a short list of candidates for the Bristol Mayoral selection.
“This has been communicated to our members, who will now undertake a selection process over the summer which will include opportunities to hear representations from the candidates and to ask them questions.
“We will announce our candidate after the close of ballot in September and look forward to launching our campaign for the Bristol mayoral election and our local government campaign following a successful General Election for Bristol Labour when we returned Labour MP’s in three of the four Bristol constituencies.”
It is understood that five potential candidates were interviewed by Labour Bristol on Friday, May 29, with only two making the shortlist.
Bradshaw and Rees will now debate in front of members at hustings events in June before ballots are dispatched in August. The ballot closes on September 10.
Rees, who came second in the last mayoral election in November 2012, is a former BBC journalist who now works in public health and lives in Whitehall.
Bradshaw, city councillor for Bedminster ward, is currently Ferguson’s assistant mayor for place, which includes transport and regeneration.
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