Frank Field to fight Labour for Merseyside seat at next election

Former Labour minister Frank Field will stand against his former party at the next general election.

Mr Field sits as an independent after resigning the Labour whip last year, citing anti-Semitism and “nastiness” in the party.

The 77-year-old has been MP for Birkenhead in Merseyside since 1979 and is one of the longest-serving MPs in the Commons. Mr Field said he would fight the next election – currently due in 2022 – as the Birkenhead Social Justice candidate.

Speaking outside Birkenhead town hall, he said: “Mark Twain would have said my political death has been much exaggerated... I will be standing again as a candidate at the next election with the aim of doing what I have done for 40 years: always putting the interests of our town and our country first while championing the views and interests of the underdogs in our society.”

Veteran MP Frank Field. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo

He was forced to move interviews inside Birkenhead town hall after a man began to remonstrate with him about a local Labour party row.

Mr Field, who chairs the work and pensions select committee, held the seat for Labour with a majority of over 25,500 and a vote share of almost 77 per cent in 2017.

Labour said: “The people of Birkenhead voted for a Labour MP in 2017 with a near-10 per cent increase in vote share, and deserve a Labour MP again.”