Labour's ruling National Executive Committee has voted by 14 votes to two in favour of controversial plans to change the way the party's parliamentary candidates are selected.

BBC correspondent Guto Harri reports

But the party's plans to choose candidates from centrally approved lists and to send reports of MPs voting records to their constituencies has attracted strong criticism from left-wingers who see the proposals as an attempt by the leadership to stamp out dissent.

The only two MPs on the NEC to vote against the proposals, Ken Livingstone and Dennis Skinner, fear the new powers could be used to target left-wing rebels who do not always follow the party line.

Party leaders are insisting that the new rules are aimed at MPs with a poor attendance record at House of Commons votes rather than at left-wingers who occasionally vote against the government line.

Party lists Left-wingers are also concerned at plans to draw up a central approved list of new candidates which they believe will hand more power to party leaders to back Blairite loyalists.

The Labour leadership has responded to criticisms of the centrally approved candidates by saying this would not stop constituency parties from choosing a candidate who had not been "pre-endorsed" by the NEC.

However, such a candidate would face a "rigorous interviewing process" by the NEC afterwards to make certain that they would abide by the rules and vote in the Commons according to the whip.

Preventing embarrassment

The party says that the plan to endorse candidates before they are chosen by the local party is aimed at preventing cases like that of Liz Davies which severely embarrassed the leadership in the last Parliament.

Liz Davies was chosen by Leeds North East as their candidate for the last general election, but her selection was overturned by the NEC, partly because they feared she would defy the whip.

There are also plans to allow big trade unions and other large organisations affiliated to the party to "pre-endorse" candidates in a similar process to the NEC.

'Yes men and yes women'

Liz Davies responded to the changes saying: "Under these proposals every Labour MP who is selected will owe their job to the patronage of the Prime Minister.

"That puts the job of an MP in a wholly different position. They will no longer be there representing their constituents, asking awkward questions. They will be there being the Prime Minister's yes-men and yes-women."
 

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