Party strategists hope pro-union voters will turn to them after Michael Marra replaces Jim McGovern, who is standing down for health reasons

Labour strategists hope that tactical voting will help save its most vulnerable seat from the Scottish National party after a last minute reselection in Dundee West.

Scottish Labour announced that it had chosen Michael Marra, a former party adviser, charity worker and political analyst, to fight the constituency after the ailing sitting MP, Jim McGovern, bowed to mounting medical and political advice by retiring from politics on health grounds last week.

Marra, whose sister Jenny Marra is a Scottish Labour MSP for the north east region and whose uncle – also called Michael Marra – was a folk singer, was chosen on Monday after a quick-fire reselection contest run last weekend.

With less than five weeks before polling day, Marra faces one of the toughest election battles of all Labour candidates.



Dundee West: where Labour voters seem to be very thin on the ground Read more

Until McGovern’s resignation, the party had written off its chances in Dundee West following the city’s heavy vote in favour of independence last September.



McGovern spoke in 13 Commons debates and tabled eight questions in the last year, well below average for opposition MPs.

The yes campaign won in Dundee overwhelmingly by 57% to 43%. The SNP has also replaced Labour as the most popular and dominant party in Tayside, holding most of the region’s Holyrood seats and successfully running the local council. Dundee East is held by SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie.

Party strategists believe Marra could just rescue the seat, won by McGovern in 2010 with a 20% majority of 7,278 votes, but only if he can win the support of Tory and Lib Dem voters in the seat’s prosperous suburbs.

They believe unionist voters could be put off by the SNP candidate, colourful yes campaign activist and local businessman Chris Law.

One of a number of prominent candidates chosen by SNP because of their active roles in the yes campaign, Law is known locally for using a converted former Green Goddess military fire engine as a campaign vehicle. Calling it the Spirit of Independence, Law drove the vehicle around Dundee and Scotland during the referendum campaign, becoming a fixture at rallies and protests.

Marra, who set up and ran a major referendum analysis and polling project at the University of Dundee called Five Million Questions, is expected to present himself as a serious centre-ground candidate to draw in anti-nationalist votes, sources said last night.

“I can see many Tories and possibly Lib Dems who never in a million years would’ve voted for Jim McGovern but they might think now we’ve got a decent chap who might be an MP, and we will vote tactically to get rid of this nationalist who drives about in a fire engine and has a goatee,” said one source.

In a statement issued on Monday night, Marra said: “I’ve lived and worked in Dundee for most of my life and am proud to be raising my family in the city. It is a tremendous honour to be chosen to represent Labour at a general election for the constituency where I was born and raised.

“I’m sorry that ill health has forced Jim to stand down as the candidate but my pledge to our members in Dundee West is that I will do my very best to keep this seat in Labour hands.”