There has been a huge outpouring of support for Ian Byrne after he won a hard fought battle to retain the nomination to be the Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby tonight.
Mr Byrne retained the Labour nomination with a narrow 210-198 win over challenger Anthony Lavelle after a controversial and dramatic contest.
The incumbent MP, first elected in 2019, faced a difficult reselection battle after being triggered by local branches earlier this year. There were demonstrations from supporters of both sides and huge queues outside the selection vote at De La Salle Academy in Croxteth today before the result was confirmed.
That result means Mr Byrne - recently named MP of the year - will be Labour's candidate for the safe West Derby seat at the next General Election.
New of Mr Byrne's victory was met with thousands of messages of support online. One of those came from his close friend and fellow Liverpool MP Dan Carden, who said: "Congratulations Ian Byrne. A fantastic result for the people of West Derby who retain one of the most hard-working, effective campaigners in Parliament. I look forward to continuing to work together for the benefit of our communities."
Fellow Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy tweeted: "A great result for people in West Derby who have one of the nicest and hardest working MPs in Parliament. Couldn't be prouder to work alongside him."
Many others took to social media to share their joy at the result. One ECHO reader said: "Deservedly so too" as another wrote: "Well done Ian."
READ MORE: Ian Byrne defeats Anthony Lavelle to win Labour's West Derby nomination
A third said: "Delighted for Ian. Would have been a travesty if he didn't win the re-selection." Sharing the news on social media, one person wrote: "Great news but an absolute joke than Ian had to go through this process. Congratulations."
Labour initially produced a long-list of candidates, which was then reduced to a shortlist of just Mr Byrne, Cllr Lavelle and Cllr Whitehead. This number was reduced to just two as Cllr Whitehead withdrew today.
Relations between the Byrne and Lavelle camps have not been good during the campaign and the situation reached a crescendo last weekend amid accusations of bullying and intimidation during campaign events.
Mr Byrne tweeted that he faced "shameful" intimidation at an event last Saturday and said he had blocked those "involved in this appalling behaviour". Responding, Liverpool Council cabinet member Harry Doyle - a leading backer of Cllr Lavelle - said he had been blocked on twitter by the MP and urged him to withdraw his "baffling" claims, adding: "There was no intimidation from any of Anthony's team."
As the congratulations come pouring in today, one twitter user said: "Well done Ian Byrne MP, the right decision" and another simply wrote: "Ian is a man of the people."
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