Labour East Lothian MP Anne Moffat loses appeal to stand in General Election

The party's National Executive Committee (NEC) upheld a decision by local activists in East Lothian to oust her as the candidate for the constituency.

With just weeks until the General Election is held, party bosses said they would move quickly to find a new candidate for the seat – which is held at the Scottish Parliament by Labour's Holyrood leader Iain Gray.

On Friday Labour Party members in the area voted by 130 to 59 to deselect Ms Moffat – who has been the MP for the constituency since 2001.

At the time, Willie Innes, chairman of the East Lothian Constituency Labour Party (CLP), said the MP had not attended a constituency meeting for two years and had been attracting "bad press".

Ms Moffat later lodged an appeal against the decision, which was considered at a meeting of the NEC today. It has now backed the decision by local activists to deselect Ms Moffat.

A Labour Party spokesman said: "The NEC discussed the issue of East Lothian CLP's prospective parliamentary candidate and after considering all the issues, including representations from Anne Moffat, the NEC resolved that local Labour Party members' decision to select a new candidate should stand."

The spokesman added: "We will now move quickly to selecting a new candidate. As with all seats, consideration will be given to whether it will be an all-woman shortlist.

"We anticipate that the process will start imminently."

Mr Innes said afterwards: "I am pleased the NEC agreed with the will of local members regarding the representation of this seat.

"We will now select a new candidate as quickly as possible and I am absolutely convinced that we can move forward positively."

He added: "I'm certain that Labour can win the trust of the people in East Lothian and hold this seat for Labour."

The vote by Labour members in East Lothian to oust Ms Moffat followed a row about her reselection in 2008 when the constituency party was temporarily suspended.

She had previously attracted criticism after claiming 40,000 in travel expenses between 2003 and 2004 – more than any other MP.