West Midlands Labour Party members will be given just two names from which to choose a candidate to run for the region’s first elected Police and Crime Commissioner, raising fears that a similarly constrained shortlist might be used to select a Birmingham mayoral candidate.

The party’s regional board conducted interviews over the weekend and decided to shortlist local councillor Bob Jones, from Wolverhampton, and Yvonne Mosquito, from Birmingham. Both are long-serving members of the West Midlands Police Authority, and Coun Jones chairs the finance committee.

The decision appears to put paid to the chances of a political comeback by former Birmingham city councillor Mike Olley, who has been