Liam Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has been selected as the Labour Party’s candidate for the West Midlands metro-mayoral election.

The new candidate won against UNISON-backed Pete Lowe and Unite-endorsed Salma Yaqoob, both of whom are considered to be on the Labour left and had local and national Momentum support respectively. A Labour spokesperson said:

“Out of a total of 6,948 valid votes, Byrne received 3,105 first preference votes, Pete Lowe received 2,034 and Salma Yaqoob received 1,809. Five votes were recorded as invalid.

“After the redistribution of second preferences, Liam Byrne had received 425 additional votes and Pete Lowe had received 686 additional votes. A further 698 votes were non-transferrable.

“Therefore, after second preferences had been distributed, Liam Byrne received 56.5% of the vote and Pete Lowe received 43.5%.”

Byrne will go up against Tory incumbent Andy Street when the 2020 West Midlands mayoral election takes place in three months’ time. Street won the post when he beat Labour’s Siôn Simon in 2017. Commenting on the result, Byrne said:

“I’m so proud that members from across our region and our party have united behind our campaign for West Midlands mayor. Now, the real campaign begins.”