THE son of a Burnley councillor will find out tonight if he is to represent the Labour Party at the by-election caused by the death of Foreign Office minister Derek Fatchett.

Clarets fan Shahid Rafique Malik, 31, is on a short-list of four selected by a panel which included deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Tonight Mr Malik, son of Councillor Rafique Malik, will have 10 minutes to present his case and 10 minutes to answer questions from the meeting of Labour Party members at Leeds Central before they ballot on who should contest the by-election.

In 1997 Mr Fatchett won the seat polling 25,766 votes - 69.6 per cent of the vote.

Shahid is a chief executive of the partnership which manages single regeneration budget funding for Haringey Council in North London.

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