Labour pair square up for shot at seat

LABOUR councillor Paul Godzik and local party secretary Ann Henderson will go head to head for the nomination to fight the new Edinburgh Southern seat at next year's Holyrood elections.

The constituency will be a top target for Labour after the party held the equivalent Westminster seat against the odds at the general election in May.

Ian Murray was elected with a majority of 316 despite a determined Liberal Democrat campaign and his late adoption as candidate after former MP Nigel Griffiths stood down.

The party sees that victory as a boost for its efforts to oust sitting Lib Dem MSP Mike Pringle.

Councillor Godzik, who was Mr Murray's agent, works as a policy adviser to Labour MSP Cathy Jamieson and has been a councillor for Meadows/Morningside since 2007. He is the party's education spokesman at the City Chambers.

Ms Henderson is an assistant secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

She was one of Scotland's first female train drivers in the 1990s and later worked as a parliamentary researcher for former health minister Susan Deacon.

Local party members will choose between Cllr Godzik and Ms Henderson after a hustings meeting on 9 August.