JEREMY Corbyn’s former right-hand-woman has been selected by party members to run for Holyrood.
Katy Clark, who was made a peer earlier this year, was selected as Labour’s candidate for Cunninghame North over local activist Johanna Baxter.
Her win will be seen as victory for the party’s left.
According to LabourList Clark won the selection race with 38 votes against 31.
Baxter, is a member of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) and Scottish executive committee (SEC) and chair of the Cunninghame North local party.
Clark told the party site: “I am delighted to have been selected as Labour’s candidate for Cunninghame North. Now more than ever Labour needs a positive vision for Scotland.
“And Cunninghame North needs a MSP who will fight for jobs, investment and the eradication of poverty. I am really looking forward to the campaign.”
Local party Stephen McNeill secretary added: “It is a pleasure to have Katy Clark as our candidate and I am looking forward to campaigning with her next year with good socialist policies.”
Clark served as MP for North Ayrshire and Arran from 2005 to 2015. She served as political secretary to Jeremy Corbyn when he was leader, and was involved in the disastrous election campaign that saw the party lose to Boris Johnson.
She was made Baroness Clark of Kilwinning in the Lords earlier this year.
Cunninghame North is currently held by the SNP's Kenneth Gibson.
He told The National: "I note that only 69 Labour members voted in the Cunninghame North selection, which shows how precipitous has been their electoral decline in recent years.
"I am curious how Baroness Clark of Kilwinning would be able to combine representing Cunninghame North at Holyrood, whilst being active in the constituency and attending the House of Lords?
"Baroness Ruth Davidson considered that representing a constituency and working at Holyrood would be impossible to combine with sitting in the Lords, despite Holyrood being in her Edinburgh Central Constituency. She is therefore giving up her seat in Scottish Parliament seat in May, so how could Baroness Clark be in Ayrshire, Edinburgh and London?"
Gibson won with a majority of 8,724at the 2016 election. Labour were pushed into third place by the Tories.
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