South Shields MP ‘relaxed’ about prospect of repeat ‘trigger ballot’ battle to retain Labour Party backing

With speculation the country could go to the polls next year, constituency groups have reportedly been told to complete a ‘trigger ballot’ process by the summer.

Lewell-Buck faced the prospect of being deselected as South Shields’s parliamentary candidate in 2019, until a snap election was called by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

And while there is still time for a challenge to be mounted, she has claimed she feels more confident about how things may play out this time.

She said: “The only thing I would like to get across is that this time the process will be more robust than last time.

“Obviously you never know, but I’m quite relaxed about it, we’ve got some really good members in the [South Shields Constituency Labour Party (CLP).”

Every sitting Labour MP faces a trigger ballot in the build up to a General Election, offering rivals a chance to unseat them.

In 2019, a full selection process could be triggered if just a third of either the relevant CLP or its affiliate branches requested one.

However, a rule change introduced last year raised the threshold to at least 50% of branches in a CLP’s electoral college.

According to reporting by the Labour List website, senior figures in the Labour Party are preparing for a possible General Election in Spring 2023, before the introduction of revised constituency boundaries being considered by the Boundary Commission.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Under longstanding Labour Party rules, reselection processes are held in every Labour-held constituency between general elections.

“It is a core part of Labour Party democracy and getting ready for the next election.”

After becoming South Shields’s first female MP at a 2013 by-election, Lewell-Buck increased her majority at both the 2015 and 2017 elections, but saw a fall in her vote share in 2019, despite an otherwise comfortable victory.

While the 2019 attempt to topple Lewell-Buck in South Shields was unsuccessful, veteran MP Stephen Hepburn was barred from defending his seat in the neighbouring Jarrow constituency following a complaint of sexual harrasment and was replaced as the official Labour candidate by Kate Osborne.

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