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THE Labour Party has defended its decision to field only female candidates in certain seats in forthcoming elections.

In an anonymous letter to the Retford Times, a correspondent questions the approach of the party over its policy of making certain district council election seats open to only female candidates.

"For the second year running Retford North is to be an all women seat. In other words no man can apply to be the candidate," the letter reads.

"There is only one female candidate for the seat - Michelle Gregory - who has been active in the Save Our Services campaign at Bassetlaw Hospital and works in (Bassetlaw MP) John Mann's office.

"The decision has been made even though there are currently more female Labour councillors in Retford than male. We are also informed that at least one of the remaining seats in Retford will also be made all women."

Currently there are three female Labour councillors representing Retford wards - Carol Palmer, Adele Mumby and Carolyn Troop - and one male, Ian Campbell.

Overall, including all parties, there are 19 female councillors compared to 29 males at the authority.

Bassetlaw Constituency Labour Party said its decision is designed to bring more women into politics.

In a statement, a spokesman said: "The Labour Party is committed to ensuring that local council candidates are representative of the communities that they wish to serve. All women shortlists are put in place to increase the representation of women in local politics.

"The decision on which seats are designated as all women shortlists are an internal matter."

On the rival benches, the Conservatives say they do not follow in a similar vein.

Leader of the Conservative opposition at Bassetlaw District Council, Mike Quigley, said: "We choose the best candidate for the job, irrespective of whether they are male or female," he said.

"We do encourage female candidates to stand and we have quite a few women holding seats on the council but we don't prohibit men from applying."

The local district elections have yet to be officially called but are scheduled to happen in May.