Kim McGuinness has been named as Labour’s pick to stand in the first North East mayoral election.

The Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner was confirmed on Monday as the winner of the party’s selection contest, which has been dominated by the furore over Jamie Driscoll’s exclusion from the race.

Since Labour controversially blocked Mr Driscoll from seeking the nomination in June, the contest has been viewed by political insiders as effectively a foregone conclusion – with Ms McGuinness being a firm favourite of the Labour establishment under Sir Keir Starmer.

The only other candidate that local party members were able to vote for in a ballot conducted over recent weeks was former MEP Paul Brannen, whose campaign was extremely low key in comparison.

Read more: Mayor Driscoll resigns from Labour and accuses Sir Keir Starmer of broken promises

A Labour source told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Ms McGuinness polled 76% of the vote to Mr Brannen’s 24%, with the turnout being just under 50% of eligible party members.

The former Newcastle city councillor, who is currently recovering from surgery on a severe arm injury, is now the favourite to win the historic mayoral election scheduled for May 2024.

Following the agreement of a £4bn devolution deal with the Government, the new mayor will govern a combined authority stretching across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and Durham.

No other party has yet named its candidate, while there also remains the intriguing prospect of Mr Driscoll potentially standing as an independent.

Speaking after her selection, Ms McGuinness said: “I’m standing to be North East mayor, because I have a vision for our region. Together we can reclaim our ambition and make the North East the real home of opportunity.

“As your Labour mayor, my number one priority will be ending child poverty. It’s an absolute tragedy that the North East has the highest rate of child poverty in the country and I’ll do everything in my power to change that. For starters, every request for mayoral funding will have to outline exactly what that money will do to help end child poverty in the region.

“For too long the North East has been ignored by the Tories. After the 2019 General Election, they promised to level us up, but in reality, they have let us down. Prices are up, wages are stagnating and the NHS is at breaking point, and it’s the people of the North East that are paying the price.

“In me, our region will have a Labour mayor that will fight for them every step of the way.”

 Mr Driscoll, who is currently Labour’s mayor of the North of Tyne Combined Authority, was blocked from the initial longlist of candidates to take on the new, larger mayoral post – a decision which the party blamed on his decision to appear on stage with filmmaker Ken Loach.

The left-wing figurehead is understood to be contemplating the prospect of standing in next year’s election as an independent, while he has also spoken of possible legal action against Labour.

He told a Q&A event in Newcastle last Thursday that he believed he would have won the Labour nomination “quite easily” if members had been allowed to vote for him.

The Teesside native, who has been backed by a number of trade unions, attacked Sir Keir for watering down commitments to spend billions on climate action and for scrapping a pledge to abolish tuition fees.

He accused Labour’s leadership of “insecurity” in its targeting of him and clashes with the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, during the event at Newcastle University.