A GWENT government minister broke ranks to say that an all-women short-list should not be imposed on Blaenau Gwent's Labour Party.

Parliamentary Under Secretary for Wales Don Touhig's comments will escalate the row between the constituency party and the executive.

Last month the Welsh Labour Party executive voted to use an all-women short-list from which to choose the replacement for outgoing MP Llew Smith, despite mass opposition from the constituency party.

The local party has threatened to boycott the selection process and collected thousands of signatures opposing the system. There are now concerns that the row will lead to Labour losing the seat that has been previously represented by Nye Bevan and Michael Foot.

Mr Touhig said: "Speaking personally, I am against all-women short-lists being imposed on a constituency party without their consent.

"We have significantly improved the representation of women in Parliament but more needs to be done and I think all-women short-lists can be a useful way of achieving that.

"However, we should always seek the agreement of the constituency party.

"All-women short-lists were approved by conference and were part of our manifesto commitment but it would be wrong to impose them on a constituency party against its wishes."

Mr Touhig joins former Labour leader and Blaenau Gwent MP Michael Foot in voicing concern over forcing the areas party to use the all-women system.

The constituency party campaign is being led by MP Llew Smith and AM Peter Law who said: "I welcome this important and very significant comment from Don Touhig.

"It comes from a government minister and a socialist who represents our neighbouring Valleys' constituency and who understands our problems and situations.

"People in the party now need to listen to his wise words and avoid a very damaging confrontation. Some people get very arrogant because we have a large majority but that majority will be in serious danger if we are not given a fair choice."

A spokeswoman for the Labour Party said: "Only ten per cent of Welsh MPs are women.

"Conference decided democratically to address this problem by adopting this system. Blaenau Gwent was chosen because it had a particularly low level of representation of women in political positions."