General Election 2019: MP deselected over LGBT row stands as independent

A Labour MP deselected for backing protesters in an LGBT teaching row will stand as an independent candidate.

Roger Godsiff, who represented Birmingham Hall Green, was banned from standing by the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) on Wednesday.

Mr Godsiff, 73, said a "small intolerant vindictive group" within the LGBT community had stirred up a "witch-hunt" against him.

He will now stand as an independent Labour candidate.

Campaigners gathered outside Anderton Park Primary School, in Birmingham, for months claiming children were too young to learn about same-sex relationships.

In June, Mr Godsiff was reprimanded by Labour not to repeat comments after he was seen in a video agreeing with demonstrators.

Mr Godsiff said he was standing because "I have always put the interests of my constituents above everything else and I don't succumb to threats, I have supported the rights of parents to have a say, not a veto, over how the most sensitive aspects of the Equality Act are taught to young children."

Labour has yet to announce who will replace Mr Godsiff, while the Conservatives are due to confirm their Hall Green candidate at the weekend.

Mr Godsiff received 78% of the vote as the Labour candidate in the 2017 election, winning the seat with a majority of 33,944.

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