PROGRESS vice-chair Dan Jarvis has been chosen as Labour’s candidate to be the first directly-elected mayor of the Sheffield City Region, it was announced yesterday.

The Barnsley Central MP beat Sheffield city councillor Ben Curran — a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn who had vowed to “bury the legacy of Thatcherism” in the region — in a two-horse race for the Labour nomination ahead of the poll on May 3.

It is expected that he will have to choose between standing for mayor and continuing as an MP after reports that Labour’s National Executive Committee decided that candidates cannot have these dual roles. Labour has yet to confirm that ruling.

Mr Jarvis wants to combine both positions.

The post of the Sheffield City region mayor has been mired in controversy because, unlike similar roles in Manchester and the West Midlands, no devolution and funding deal has yet been agreed to go with the appointment.

Two of the four South Yorkshire councils — Doncaster and Barnsley — have rejected a devolution plan centred on the county in favour of joining a pan-Yorkshire proposal.

Earlier this month, 18 of the 20 local authorities in Yorkshire agreed to back a proposal to the government to deliver a “One Yorkshire” devolution deal. Sheffield and Rotherham were the only Yorkshire councils not to sign up to the plan.

Mr Jarvis was selected in a ballot of members by 2,584 votes to 1,903 on a turnout of 37 per cent of those eligible to take part.