Labour's team for 2009

Delighted with the result of our ballot of all Labour party members in Yorkshire & Humber to choose Labour's team of candidates for the 2009 European elections. Linda McAvan and I are honoured to be the top two candidates again, as we were in 2004.

Several thousand members returned their ballots, which were counted yesterday, giving us, in a very close result, the following team, listed in ranking order:

1 Linda McAvan MEP
2 Richard Corbett MEP
3 Emma Hoddinott
4 David Bowe
5 Melanie Onn
6 Maroof Hussain MBE
Reserves: Chris Williams and Paul Blanchard

This gives us a good balance in terms of gender, different parts of the region, age, ethnicity, and experience. All are enthusiastic and raring to go.