A LONDON-BASED Ayrshire baroness standing for Scottish Labour at next year’s Holyrood vote, has promised to quit the House of Lords if elected to the Scottish Parliament.
Earlier this week, local activists narrowly picked Katy Clark to stand for Cunninghame North over local campaigner Johanna Baxter.
According to LabourList, Clark won the selection race by just 38 votes to 31.
That’s despite Baxter being a member of Labour’s national executive committee and Scottish executive committee and chair of the Cunninghame North local party.
Clark, who served as MP for North Ayrshire and Arran from 2005 to 2015, was made Baroness Clark of Kilwinning in the Lords earlier this year.
That was after serving as Jeremy Corbyn’s political secretary for most of his time as Labour leader.
READ MORE: Former Corbyn aide Katy Clark wins tight Labour Holyrood selection battle
Last year she stood in the general election as the party’s candidate in Vauxhall.
At the time she told local press: “I am delighted to be on the shortlist for selection in Vauxhall, where I live with my family and am active in the local party.”
It is understood that she still lives in London.
Previously she has also put her name forward for constituencies in Rochdale, Barnsley East, Leigh and Ogmore in Wales.
Cunninghame North is currently held by the SNP’s Kenneth Gibson.
He told The National: “I am curious how Baroness Clark of Kilwinning would be able to combine representing Cunninghame North at Holyrood, whilst being active in the constituency and attending the House of Lords?”
Gibson added: “Representing the people and communities of Cunninghame North is a full-time job, to be undertaken by someone who lives in the constituency and is committed to it, not Vauxhall. It’s not a job to be shared with attending the Lords.”
Clark told The National that she still had a place in the North Ayrshire constituency of Cunninghame North.
“I would intend to stand down from the Lords if I was elected as an MSP,” she said.
Gibson won with a majority of 8724 at the 2016 election and Labour were pushed into third place by the Tories.
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