We haven't been able to take payment
You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription.
Update payment details
Act now to keep your subscription
We've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription.
Update payment details
Your subscription is due to terminate
We've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account, otherwise your subscription will terminate.
Update payment details

Accessibility Links

Skip to content
The Times & The Sunday Times
The Times & The Sunday Times
  • Subscribe
Subscribe

Union fury at shortlist for by-election

Michael Savage, Chief Political Correspondent
The Times
The GMB wanted Thomas Docherty, a pro-nuclear former MP. In a constituency where the Sellafield nuclear plant is a significant employer, there are fears that Jeremy Corbyn’s past opposition to nuclear power will lose Labour votes
The GMB wanted Thomas Docherty, a pro-nuclear former MP. In a constituency where the Sellafield nuclear plant is a significant employer, there are fears that Jeremy Corbyn’s past opposition to nuclear power will lose Labour votes
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES GLOSSOP
Michael Savage, Chief Political Correspondent
The Times

A row has erupted within Labour over who should fight a crucial by-election, with members of a powerful union refusing to back Jeremy Corbyn’s preferred candidate.

Prominent members of the GMB are angry that Thomas Docherty, the pro-nuclear former MP for Dunfermline & West Fife, was not on the shortlist of three candidates to fight the Cumbrian seat of Copeland. The seat is home to the Sellafield nuclear plant, a significant employer.

Senior Labour figures are concerned that the party could lose the seat for the first time in more than 80 years because of Mr Corbyn’s past opposition to nuclear power.

Labour moderates believe that the shortlist is designed to ensure that the selection is won by Rachel Holliday, a pro-Corbyn community campaigner. Local sources said that GMB members are refusing to back her. The union has a big presence in the local party. Members choose their candidate this week. Labour is defending a majority of 2,564.