Could Manchester have its first BME MP?

Manchester Central MP, Tony Lloyd’s decision to stand down as the Labour Candidate for the upcoming Police and Crime Commissioner Post will trigger a by-election which is expected to take place later this year.

Following the announcement made last week, the Labour party have been going through the selection process and announced the shortlist. Of particular interest to OBV is Patrick Vernon, who we’ve worked with over the years.

Vernon is currently Chief Executive of the Afiya Trust, one of the leading race equality health charities in the country, where he has highlighted key health issues and their impact on BME communities. He has previously been Manager for Citizens Advice Bureau; senior civil servant at the Department of Health and Local Government Association; Director of the Brent Health Action Zone (Brent Primary Care Trust) and Regional Director for MIND. Vernon is also former Non-Executive Director of Camidoc (GP out of hour’s service in North London) and a trustee for Social Action for Health in East London.

He is also currently a Labour Councillor in Hackney, where he has Health Scrutiny and Public Health Peer Reviewer. He also currently sits on the BAME Labour Executive, with responsibility for policy.

He is however, against some strong opposition in the form of Manchester local councillors, Mike Amesbury and Rosa Battle and Ed Miliband’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Lucy Powell.

Simon Woolley, director of OBV said;

'This is great news! Patrick Vernon has shown himself to be a man of the people. He truly cares about social and racial justice, and in a multicultural dynamic city such as Manchester all these qualities should go down very well'.

We wish all the shortlisted candidates good luck.

Jyoti Bhojani