Dan Jarvis selected as Labour Party candidate for Sheffield City Region mayor

Labour party members in South Yorkshire have today selected Dan Jarvis to contest the Sheffield City Region mayoral election.
Dan Jarvis MP.Dan Jarvis MP.
Dan Jarvis MP.

Mr Jarvis beat Sheffield city councillor Ben Curran in a two-horse race for the Labour nomination ahead of the poll on May 3.

The Barnsley Central MP was elected with 2,584 votes to Sheffield councillor Ben Curran’s 1,903 equating to 58 per cent of the vote.

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Only 37 per cent of the 12,136 members who were eligible to take part voted in the contest.

Mr Jarvis will become the overwhelming favourite to win the contest, especially as all of the 14 South Yorkshire constituencies which will take part in the election were won by Labour at the last general election.

However, a row within Labour could be on the cards after the party said Mr Jarvis would be unable to share the post with his job as Barnsley MP.

The post of the Sheffield City Region Mayor has been mired in controversy because, unlike similar rolls in Manchester and the West Midlands, no devolution and funding deal has yet been agreed to go with the appointment.

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Two of the four South Yorkshire councils - Doncaster and Barnsley - had rejected a devolution solution centred on the county in favour of joining a pan-Yorkshire proposal, but have since decided to back it if it makes a so-called 'One Yorkshire' deal more likely.

Earlier this month, 18 of the 20 local authorities in Yorkshire agreed to back a proposal to the Government to deliver a One Yorkshire devolution deal with Sheffield and Rotherham the only Yorkshire councils not to sign up to the plan.

Voters in South Yorkshire's four local authorities will go to the polls on May 3 to elect the Sheffield City Region's first mayor.

Up against Dan Jarvis will be Rob Murphy for the Green Party, David Allen for the English Democrats, Hannah Kitching for the Liberal Democrats and Mick Bower for the Yorkshire Party.

The Conservatives have yet to choose their candidate.

RESULT

Ben Curran: 1,903

Dan Jarvis: 2,584

Eligible electorate: 12,136

Turnout: 37%

Spoilt papers: 6