Labour team named

Labour has named the team who will help new candidate Debbie Abrahams to fight the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election.

Her campaign manager, hoping to help her retain the seat taken from by Phil Woolas after his historic Election Court defeat, is Hartlepool MP Iain Wright.

He is a by-election veteran and won the seat previously held by Peter, now Lord, Mandelson, in 2004. He is also a former Hartlepool borough councillor. The agent will be Noel Hutchinson, acting Labour North-West regional director, and communications will be handled by Simon Greenhalgh the North-West press officer.