NO ROOM FOR YORKSHIRE

Coming off the back of an election in which they were thumped in their former heartlands, one might expect Labour to at least try and make an effort.  However, the Party of London has doubled down with the unveiling of its hustings schedule for the next stage of the leadership contest.  The hustings will be held in most regions, from the south-west of England to Scotland (where the party only has one MP).  Remarkably the NEC omitted Yorkshire and the Humber, a key battleground if Labour is ever to regain power and the scene of a cull of nine Labour MPs in last month's election.

It's not as if there aren't any gaps in the schedule.  They've doubled the number of hustings for the first week of February holding one each on Saturday and Sunday.  Surely the week before when all the candidates will be in Durham would be the ideal opportunity to drop down into Yorkshire?  Then again, perhaps logistics is not their strong point.  On Saturday 15th of February the candidates will be in Glasgow, followed the next day by a near 400 mile journey to London!

Leadership election hustings

Sat 18 Jan - Liverpool
Sat 25 Jan - Durham
Sat 1 Feb - Bristol
Sun 2 Feb - Cardiff
Sun 9 Feb - Birmingham
Sat 15 Feb - Glasgow
Sun 16 Feb - London

Sat 4 April - London (special conference for declaration of results)

The decision to overlook Yorkshire has been criticised by many figures in the party, including leadership candidates Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy.  Another own goal for the hard left metropolitan morons running the circus!