Unite’s Karie Murphy is not on the shortlist to be Labour candidate in Halifax

The former candidate for Falkirk, who was reinstated after a vote-rigging scandal, is not included in the Halifax selection list.

By New Statesman

(Photo By Karie Murphy is not on the Halifax shortlist. Photo: YouTube screengrab)

There are reports that Karie Murphy has been excluded from the Labour candidacy list in Halifax.

Senior Unite people angry re Harriet Harman role in blocking Karie Murphy in Halifax. “I assume she was forced into this,” says one source

— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) March 16, 2015

Murphy, Labour’s former candidate in Falkirk – which was at the centre of a vote-rigging scandal last year – applied to stand for the marginal seat of Halifax last week.

She was suspended from the party last year, amid accusations that the union Unite had attempted to massage the selection process in her favour. She was cleared of wrongdoing and allowed back into the party.

If the union’s preferred candidate has been kept off the shortlist in Halifax, there could be ugly words to come between them and Labour HQ.

Here’s her statement: