SALMA YAQOOB has announced that she is standing as Labour’s candidate to be mayor of the West Midlands.

Ms Yaqoob, an NHS psychotherapist, has the backing of left-wing pressure group Wolverhampton Momentum.

Announcing her candidacy yesterday, she said: “Women like me are not expected to stand for powerful positions — a daughter of working-class immigrants who strived for a better life for their children, raised in one of the country’s poorest neighbourhoods.