2016 West Midlands Labour Party mayoral selection explained

The West Midlands Labour Party mayoral selection of 2016 was the process by which the Labour Party selected its candidate for Mayor of the West Midlands, to stand in the mayoral election on 4 May 2017.

The selection took place amid the backdrop of the 2016 Labour Leadership election, with Simon being a close friend and ally of Tom Watson, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, who had been calling for incumbent Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn to step down. Steve Bedser pitched to Corbyn supporters, expressing his support for Corbyn, whilst simultaneously stating that Corbyn needed to improve his performance.^[1] On 10 August 2016, Simon was announced as the winning candidate.

Candidates

Name	Born	Current/previous positions	Announced candidacy	Campaign website (Slogan)
	(age)	Member of the European Parliament for West Midlands (2014–present) Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Creative Industries (2009–10) Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Further Education (2008–09) Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington (2001–10)	May 2016[2] [3] [4]	sion-simon.com Team Siôn (Uniting the West Midlands)
	August 1965 (age)	Businessman Birmingham Council Cabinet member for Health and Well Being (−2014)[5] Birmingham Councillor for Kings Norton (2012–2014)[6]	June 2016[7]

Not selected

• Najma Hafeez, management consultant, former Birmingham City Councillor and former Chairwoman of City Hospital^{[8] [9]}
• Milkinder Jaspal, Wolverhampton City Councillor^[9]
• Mary Simons-Jones, freelance book-seller^[9]

Declined

• Ian Austin, MP for Dudley North since 2005, and former Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister under Gordon Brown.^[2]
• Liam Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown.^[2]
• Darren Cooper, former leader of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, was perceived as a potential candidate before his sudden death in March 2016.^[2]
• Gisela Stuart, MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, Chair of Vote Leave and former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health.^[2]

Membership ballot

The results of the selection were announced on 10 August 2016. A total of 3,817 valid votes were cast.^[10]

First round

Candidate	Votes		Percentage	) to two decimal places in percentage; this preserves visual clues to the magnitude of the numbers -->
Siôn Simon	2,718	align=center		71.21%
Steve Bedser	1,099	align=center		28.79%

See also

• Greater Manchester Labour Party mayoral selection, 2016
• Liverpool City Region Labour Party mayoral selection, 2016
• London Labour Party mayoral selection, 2015

Notes and References

1. Web site: Corbyn supporters targeted by Birmingham Labour mayor hopeful. Neil. Elkes. 13 July 2016. BirminghamLive.
2. News: Walker . Jonathan . 19 May 2016 . Battle to be Greater Birmingham Mayor is already becoming brutal .
3. Web site: The first official candidate for West Midland mayor is launching their campaign. Jonathan. Walker. 6 June 2016. BirminghamLive.
4. Web site: 6 June 2016. Sion Simon bids to be Mayor of West Midlands. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160609010252/http://tyburnmail.com/2016/06/06/sion-simon-bids-mayor-west-midlands/. 2016-06-09. tyburnmail.com.
5. Web site: Who’ll be Labour’s candidate for West Midlands Metro Mayor?. David. Skuzbee. LabourList.
6. Web site: Birmingham City Council elections: Simon Jevon unseats Labour cabinet member Steve Bedser in Kings Norton. Neil. Elkes. 23 May 2014. BirminghamLive.
7. Web site: Labour picks two candidates for West Midlands Mayor contest. Halesowen News. 1 July 2016. 3 July 2016.
8. Web site: Najma Hafeez: Brum's first Muslim woman councillor aiming to be West Midlands mayor. The Birmingham Mail. Neil Elkes. 13 June 2016. 3 July 2016.
9. Web site: Euro-MP and ex-council social services chief to battle it out to be Labour mayor candidate. The Birmingham Post. Neil Elkes. 29 June 2016. 3 July 2016.
10. Web site: Sion Simon is Labour's West Midlands Mayor candidate. Neil. Elkes. 7 February 2017. BirminghamLive.