A THREE-TIME Labour candidate in North Shropshire said that the party allowed the Lib Dems to take the seat in last week’s by-election after he was prevented from standing due to his support for Palestinian rights. 

Graeme Currie, who contested the seat for Labour in 2015, 2017 and 2019 — finishing second on each occasion — has shared his disgust at the party’s approach to the seat which swung away from the Tories in last week’s vote. 

The by-election, which was called amid the Tories’ Owen Paterson sleaze saga, saw the Liberal Democrats’ Helen Morgan win a seat in the House of Commons as the Conservative vote dropped by 31 per cent. 

Labour’s own vote dropped by 12.4 per cent and the party finished third, leading to concerns being raised about Labour’s lack of effort. 

Mr Currie, who was blocked from standing, said that local members were not involved in the candidate selection process, with the party’s governing body — the national executive committee (NEC) — instead leading on the campaign. 

Speaking on the Labour Grassroots Youtube show Not the Andrew Marr show this weekend, Mr Currie said that concerns were raised by the NEC members about Facebook posts shared showing a Palestinian flag on a badge, bought at 2015 Labour conference, and another calling for calm after the Equality and Human Rights Commission report was published in October 2020. 

He said: “We’ve got to ask ourselves what Labour was doing? What we saw was a pitifully resourced campaign. We didn’t even get a leader’s visit. 

“Clearly what happened was the deal that was talked about — where the Lib Dems stood back in Bexley and Sidcup, and Labour stood back in North Shropshire — that happened.

“It just shows such a lack of understanding.”

Labour was approached for comment.