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Marvin Rees has been reselected as Labour’s Bristol mayoral candidate ahead of next year’s election.

During a meeting tonight, Wednesday, April 24, it was announced that Mr Rees had secured enough support from within the party to pass the 50 per cent threshold he needs to be the Labour candidate.

For weeks the 29 Labour Party branches in Bristol and all organisations and trade unions affiliated to the Bristol Labour Party have been voting on whether to automatically reselect Mr Rees or hold an open selection process.

And after securing enough votes he is now officially the party’s candidate for the May 2020 elections.

Following the announcement Mr Rees said: “Our Labour administration is proud to represent the city which we call home.

“From smashing our ambitious house-building targets to working with unions and employers to become the UK’s first Living Wage City, Labour are proud to be delivering for Bristol.

“In the face of austerity and despite ever shrinking funds from central government, my administration has protected all local libraries and children’s centres, unified the city to bring Channel 4 to Bristol, as well as securing millions of pounds working towards cleaner air and better public transport which we all deserve.

“And we have united city partners – public, private, voluntary, and faith – around a ground-breaking strategy to tackle inequality and deliver right through to 2050, turning the tale of two Bristols into One City.

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“I’m delighted that I’ve received majority support in both Labour branches and with the trade unions, who represent hundreds of thousands of workers in the city.

“I look forward to the city elections next year, and to continue building a better Bristol where nobody is left behind.

“It will be so positive to campaign in 2020 on our excellent record of the last few years and to deliver on our plans for a mass transit system, building more homes and communities, ensuring children get the best possible start to life and growing an inclusive fairer city of hope.

“And, having brought financial responsibility to the council, Labour will be the only option who people can trust with their hard earned money”.

Mr Rees was elected as the city’s mayor in 2016, beating the Independent candidate and former mayor George Ferguson.

He achieved almost 30,000 more votes than Mr Ferguson who became Bristol's first directly elected mayor in 2012.

There had been some confusion as to why Mr Rees had not already been announced as the party’s candidate with the election just over a year away, especially with both the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats having already announced their candidates for the 2020 election.

But the Labour Party has a complicated selection process which means that Mr Rees had to face a trigger ballot, in which every branch of the local party votes to either re-adopt you as their candidate or go through a full selection process, in which other candidates can stand.

London Labour mayor Sadiq Khan went through the exact same process last year - eventually securing the votes needed to avoid an open selection following the trigger ballot.