Julie Morgan favourite in race for Labour deputy leader role
CARDIFF North AM Julie Morgan is among three female politicians seeking to become the first deputy leader of Welsh Labour.
Her rivals for the newly created post are Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris and Debbie Wilcox, leader of Newport council and the Welsh Local Government Association.
The party is about to take forward a decision to elect a woman deputy leader to work closely with the leader, Carwyn Jones.
Nominations open on February 9 and will close at noon on February 16.
The deadline for voting is April 18 and the result will be announced during Welsh Labour’s annual conference later that month.
The election will take place under Welsh Labour’s current electoral college system, which allocates one-third of votes to party members, one-third to AMs, MPs and the MEP, and one-third to trade unions and other affiliated bodies like the Socialist Health Association.
To get onto the ballot paper, candidates need to be nominated by 20% of the elected politicians in the second section of the college: at present a total of 12.
The favourite to win will be Julie Morgan, who was MP for Cardiff North from 1997 until 2010 and has represented the same seat in the Senedd since 2011.
Before the first National Assembly election Mrs Morgan spearheaded the campaign to achieve gender balance among Labour candidates, successfully proposing a “twinning” arrangement under which two constituency parties selected a male candidate and a female candidate between them.
Mrs Morgan, whose husband, Rhodri, died last year, confirmed she would be standing for the deputy leadership.
Ms Harris entered Parliament in 2015, having previously worked as a parliamentary assistant to her predecessor, Sian James.
She said: “I would bring campaigning zeal to the deputy leader’s role, something I’ve proved myself capable of.
“An important aspect of the job would be to support the leader and the shadow secretary of state for Wales.”
Ms Wilcox, who worked for 30 years as a teacher, said she was pleased the party had allowed elected councillors to put their names forward for the deputy leadership.
She said: “I would be a unifier, aiming to bring together members from all wings of the party. I’d like a party that, in the same way as in my classroom over many years, people could be confident, secure, calm and focused.
“As someone who is not affiliated to any particular group within the party, I believe I’m in a good position”
The seven other Labour council leaders in Wales have backed Ms Wilcox, stating in a letter to all MPs and AMs: “Since becoming the first woman leader of the WLGA in June 2017, Debbie has made a significant personal contribution to raising [its] profile and work amongst Government and party colleagues and in the wider political community.
“She has also worked hard to reinvigorate our relationship with local government colleagues in England, ensuring that a Welsh voice is heard and ideas are brought to the table from our experience of governing in partnership with the Welsh Government.”