'Women only' call to Labour

THE Labour Party is being encouraged to impose a women-only shortlist on a marginal Edinburgh seat after research found only one female Labour MP has represented the capital since the First World War.

Activists believe the decision by Edinburgh East MP Gavin Strang to retire at the next election opens the door for a female candidate.

However, it is thought that the constituency's local executive is asking Labour's ruling NEC to look elsewhere in its bid to ensure half the party's MPs are women.

A women-only shortlist is currently being used in Airdrie and Shotts, where former home secretary John Reid is standing down.

In Edinburgh, women activists are pressing their case, circulating a document showing that only one of the 18 Labour MPs in the capital since 1918 has been a woman – Lynda Clark, who represented Edinburgh Pentlands between 1997 and 2005.

Patsy King, who compiled the list, said: "It makes quite shocking reading. We talk about equality and things like that, that there is no 'glass ceiling', but when you look at that research, it kind of hits home."