Currently, the Labour Party NEC have closed down parliamentary selections in seats without a candidate despite the fact that a General Election (whilst imminent) has not been called. This is the first time I have ever known this to happen. Previously NECs have certainly truncated the process once an election is called. Something of that kind happened when Dawn Butler MP was selected for Brent South in 2005, but even in that case members got a vote.
Where no candidate is in place candidates have sometimes been imposed, but every effort has been made to make sure that members have been involved to the maximum logistically possible, not least because members will be unlikely to feel motivated to campaign for a candidate simply imposed by the NEC.
The current NEC, which is made up of a faction of people who claim to be interested in extending democracy within the Labour Party are doing more than anyone has ever dared to close it down. The likely result will be a number of legal actions, that will knock back the Party's General Election message from day one.
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