Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram and his Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham have hit out at the Labour Party over its decision to block a fellow northern mayor from standing for election again.
The north west leaders are unhappy with Labour's decision to block Jamie Driscoll, the North Tyne mayor, from standing again and have demanded that the party allows him to appeal the decision to keep him off the longlist for the new north-east region.
It is understood the decision to block Mr Driscoll from the longlist came after he appeared on stage with film director Ken Loach. Mr Driscoll described the move by Labour as "arbitrary and capricious".
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On Sunday, Mayors Rotheram and Burnham published a joint letter written to Labour NEC chief executive Johanna Baxter. They wrote: "We wish to express our concern to you and other members of the NEC about the handling of the selection process for the North East Mayor.
"Whilst we appreciate the NEC's important role in upholding standards within the party and rooting out any form of anti-semitism, racism and discrimination, it also has a responsibility to ensure decisions are democratic, transparent and fair. To exclude a sitting mayor from a selection process with no right of appeal appears to us to be none of those things."
They added: "At the very least, we believe Jamie Driscoll should be entitled to a process of appeal with the ability to put his case to an NEC panel. We consider this to be a reasonable request and would be grateful if the NEC would give it serious consideration."
The two north west mayors said they have "worked closely" with Mr Driscoll and have "seen first hand the good work he has done as mayor".
They said he has taken a "constructive, non-partisan approach to his work, as shown by his success in delivering a new devolution deal with the government for the north east".
The letter added: "We believe he deserves to be treated with more respect than he has so far been shown."
Labour said the party holds "candidates to a very high standard".
In a statement, the party said: "During this process, some applicants did not meet the threshold required to proceed to the longlist stage. We do not comment on individual applications.
"Local members now have a fantastic longlist of candidates from which they will choose the Labour Party's candidate to be the very first North East mayor."
The election for the north east mayor will take place in May 2024.
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