Shahid Malik rules himself out of Dewsbury MP role

Mr Malik said his decision was out of respect for the two sitting MPs.

Under proposals announced by the Boundary Commission for England, the current constituency of Dewsbury and Mirfield could be split into two. Mirfield would be a constituency with Dewsbury West parts of Batley and Spenborough and Dewsbury East, which includes the town centre, would be in a new constituency with parts of Wakefield.

Mr Malik said that under Labour party rules, Mary Creagh would be viewed as the sitting MP for the Dewsbury and Wakefield West seat, and that Mike Wood would be viewed as the sitting MP for the Mirfield seat.

Mr Malik said: “If I had any hope of coming back to serve the people of Dewsbury I am sad to say that under the current proposals I would not to do so out of respect for my former colleagues. Both Mary Creagh and Mike Wood are excellent MPs and it would be wrong for me to challenge either.

“Dewsbury has always been a single town with one MP and the splitting of the town is nothing short of a disgrace.

“My love for the town however will not wane and it is for this reason that I will continue to expose the hypocrisy of this Tory led coalition government.”