Ian Byrne has been reselected by Labour party for the next General Election.
Mr Byrne was installed as the party’s MP for Liverpool West Derby at the 2019 election following the retirement of long-serving incumbent Stephen Twigg.
However the 50-year-old, who was named MP of the Year in March, faced a battle to retain his nomination with two local councillors challenging his seat.
Anthony Lavelle and Kimberley Whitehead put themselves forward to replace Mr Byrne but the latter withdrew from the process ahead of Sunday’s vote.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and his Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham were among those publicly backing Mr Byrne’s bid for reselection.
After a hustings event at De La Salle Academy, it was confirmed that the incumbent had defeated Cllr Lavelle by a margin of 210 to 198 votes.
But campaigning had been overshadowed by accusations of bullying and intimidation from those associated with Cllr Lavelle’s bid during hosted events.
Mr Byrne tweeted that he had faced ‘shameful’ intimidation and blocked those ‘involved in this appalling behaviour’ on social media in light of the incident.
Harry Doyle, a council cabinet member and backer of Cllr Lavelle, urged the co-founder of Fans Supporting Foodbanks to withdraw the ‘baffling’ claims.
hilst campaigning with the Mayors at a pub car park on Saturday November 12, Mr Byrne claims he faced ‘intimidation’ from supporters of Cllr Lavelle, who was hosting an event next door.