Sheffield Central: Abdi Suleiman missing out on Labour longlist 'shows party's selection issue with Black men'

Mr Suleiman was the first candidate to announce a campaign to become Labour’s candidate for the Sheffield Central seat at the next general election, but was not selected for the six-person longlist announced earlier this week. This prompted one local source to bring attention to Labour’s national issue of a lack of Black male candidates in winnable seats.

Speaking to The Star, they said: "Sheffield is famously the city of sanctuary and it opened its doors to Somali refugees in the civil war. It is disappointing that Abdi wasn’t even given the opportunity to speak to party members. Yorkshire is historically a Labour county and ethnic minority communities have always voted for Labour statistically and these groups could be said to be being taken advantage of. The Labour party could be said to be letting those people down and letting their communities down.”

The Labour Party has not had a new Black male MP elected to parliament since 2011, with the party reportedly yet to select any black candidates (men or women) in its current selection processes across the country, as of October 18. A local Labour source said Suleiman was “a competent, qualified candidate who lives in the area” and was disappointed some names – who they suggest are not regularly in the area, in particular, broadcaster Paul Mason – made the longlist over Suleiman.

The Star’s source said this was an opportunity for Labour to increase the diversity in the party where it is lacking, with the longlist having four white men and women, along with two BAME women. Reportedly only three campaigns were rejected, two of which, were BAME men. The source said: “At the end of the day, all I want is some more diversity in the party itself.” Abdi Suleiman also had the endorsement of a trade union, which our source said means he should have been longlisted.

In response to the disappointment felt by some of the party’s supporters, a Labour spokesperson said: “We're proud to have reached parity in terms of men and women MPs, and continue to make significant progress on the number of our MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds, but we will never be complacent. There is more to do on increasing diversity throughout our politics, and we are working hard to make sure that we are increasing the representation of under-represented groups.”

The party also said it is up to the discretion of the panels overseeing the contests to decide who to interview, and it is not required that someone be inteviewed before the decision is taken to not include them on the longlist.

Labour’s last new male Black MP was Clive Lewis, who was selected as a candidate in 2011, before being elected in 2015. Mr Lewis still serves as the MP for Norwich South, and he was a part of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, as the first shadow minister for sustainable economics.