Jane Kennedy, MP

Wavertree Labour MP Jane Kennedy is to stand down at the next General Election.

Jane has decided that she needs a fresh challenge after 18 years as an MP.

She says her Wavertree seat needs a Labour candidate “who can bring the necessary enthusiasm and fresh leadership to our campaign.”

Jane has written to all Party members in the constituency to inform them of her decision.

Her letter is below:

Dear comrades and friends,

After over eighteen years as your Member of Parliament and your candidate at four General Elections, I am writing to let you know that I have decided to step down at the next election.

I have been active in public life for over thirty years, more than twenty-five here in Liverpool. It has been a tremendous privilege to serve as a Labour MP and to work with Party members, first in Broadgreen and then in Wavertree constituency. I have also been fortunate and honoured to have been a minister in a Labour government at a senior level, with some serious and heavy responsibilities, for over ten years. This has often been challenging and rewarding, but also immensely draining and exhausting, both for me and my family.

We are now at a critical moment for the Labour Party, both locally and nationally. I feel that it is of paramount importance that you, my local Party, have a candidate who can bring the necessary enthusiasm and fresh leadership to our campaign. I want you to have the opportunity to choose someone who will do all that I have tried to do on behalf of the people of Liverpool - and more.

I have contemplated this decision for some time. I wanted to be sure that my personal candidacy was not crucial to our central objective of holding Wavertree for Labour. I am now absolutely confident that the Party will go on to win Wavertree in 2010. Voters are increasingly clear that the real choice is between Labour and a Tory Government which will take an axe to public services and undo all the good work we have done in the last 12 years. I am sure too, that our Party will go on to take control of the council after too many years of Lib/Dem incompetence and lies.

But we can only win if we all play our part. You know how bitterly personal and offensive the Lib Dem campaign has become. Politics should be about policy and principle and changing people’s lives for the better - not mud-slinging and personal abuse. The Lib Dems have debased political debate in this city.

A new Labour parliamentary candidate will enable us to re-double our effort in Wavertree, to expose the damage the Tories will wreak and to relegate the Lib Dems to the sidelines, where they belong.

I hope that you will understand my decision. It has been made after careful thought and reflection and is, I believe, in the best interests of the Party that I have been proud to serve for the last 30 years. I will continue to work with you and your new candidate to achieve the change for the better that we all seek.

In order to allow you to consider the next steps in the selection process, Wendy Simon and Peter Dowling are inviting you to attend a meeting on 20^th November, in the Devonshire House Hotel, where Anna Hutchinson, the Labour Party’s organiser for the North of England will be able to outline to you the procedure.

With warmest best wishes,

Jane Kennedy