THE winning candidate in a controversial all-woman shortlist to succeed outgoing Newport East MP Alan Howarth was chosen yesterday.

At a packed hustings run by the local constituency Labour party and held at the Ringland Labour club, 37-year-old Jessica Morden, from Cwmbran, emerged as the clear winner. She is set to replace Alan Howarth as the Labour candidate for the area.

The former Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School pupil triumphed in an all-woman short list which included Fern Coster, MP Paul Flynn's constituency office worker, Cardiff councillor Cherry Short, Gaer councillor Debbie Wilcox and London-based lawyer Ann Moore-Williams.

Ms Morden, who is the Labour Party's general secretary in Wales, said: "I'm absolutely delighted. It was a good selection campaign. There was a good range of candidates and I was lucky enough to be chosen.

"I'm just looking forward to working with the local party. I intend to start campaigning straight away and start talking to the voters in Newport East.

"I'm not taking anything for granted. I just want to knock on every door and conduct a strong election campaign."

Ms Morden has a strong pedigree in the Welsh Labour party. After graduating from Birmingham University with a degree in history, she attended Nash college in Newport to take a secretarial course.

In 1991, she went to work for Monmouth MP Huw Edwards for a year before going to work for Blaenau Gwent MP Llew Smith between 1992 and 1995.

She then worked for the Welsh Labour party at their headquarters in Cardiff and was responsible for organising some of the key campaigns in the 1997 general election.

On the thorny issue of a single-gender shortlist, Ms Morden said the campaign had run smoothly and without the kind of opposition experienced in Blaenau Gwent last year.

"All the members turned up to vote and they have been very welcoming. I have had a positive response from them" said Ms Morden.

Retiring MP Alan Howarth had a majority of 9,874 at the 2001 election. Welsh Secretary Peter Hain and Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan said they were delighted with the candidate.

Outgoing Newport East MP Alan Howarth said: "There was a strong field of candidates from which to choose and Newport deserves no less than that.

"No one takes the outcome of the Newport East election for granted but I do believe that Newport is Labour in its soul and I have every confidence that Jessica will be elected and, if so, then she will make a superb MP."

On the single gender shortlist, Mr Howarth said: "At the end of the day, it is the quality of the candidate that counts and, in an open contest in terms of gender, Jessica would have certainly been an outstanding candidate."