Resistance to all-women shortlists in South Wales has a complex set of causes beyond gender politics, but that doesn’t make it right

The decision by the Labour Party to use an all-women shortlist to select its candidate to replace Ann Clywd MP in Cynon Valley has been opposed by local party members. Richard Berry finds echoes of a similar controversy in the Welsh valleys ahead of the 2005 election, where local voters defied the party’s wishes in favour of a male candidate.