A RULING political group has been suspended in a row over the selection of women to stand at coming elections.
Members of Easington Constituency Labour Party have been sent letters from the National Executive Committee stating its activities have been suspended.
Labour North has told the Echo the move was made after the group's refusal to follow the govern
ing body's guidelines when selecting candidates for the single council, which will take over in County Durham next year.
It is believed party officials wanted a 50/50 balance of both sexes, but issues arose when not enough females were chosen for the 22 candidate posts who will stand in the 11 wards.
It is expected the position of the CLP members will become clear in the next week.
Suspension means the branch, its general committee and executive committee are unable to meet, its officers are suspended, it can no longer send delegates to the Labour Party conference and can no longer submit resolutions to the conference.
The party has said it is "committed to increasing the number of women in Government" and entered in to agreements with CLP across County Durham to ensure more women were selected for the elections.
Despite two agreements the East Durham group refused to implement measures.
A Labour Party spokesman said: "The suspension of a CLP is a decision that the NEC does not take lightly.
"Suspension of a Constituency Labour Party does not affect individual's membership of the Labour Party.
"NEC Officers will meet again in a few days to discuss the situation further."
The full article contains 262 words and appears in Sunderland Echo newspaper.
