We are very pleased that two of our members have been selected as Labour candidates, Sarah Owen was selected as Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Hastings & Rye, and Cecilia Love as Labour's candidate for in the Riverside Ward in Cardiff for next year's Council election, see below for full story.

Sarah Owen, whose mother is a Malaysian Chinese and father English, was selected as Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Hastings and Rye. Born and raised in Hastings and Rye, and a long-time local Labour activist, Sarah is currently political advisor to Lord Alan Sugar, and is helping develop Labour's national small business policy. She also has experience of frontline health care in the NHS and in Emergency Planning with the London Fire Brigade before working in politics.

Sarah says "I'm proud to be selected to build on the work started by Michael Foster and Labour in Hastings and Rye. Right now people feel let down by this Government and I will offer a positive alternative and a genuine commitment to people living in Hastings and Rye."

Sonny Leong, Chair of Chinese for Labour, "We are so proud of Sarah, who is on our Executive Committee, on her selection as PPC for Hastings & Rye. I've seen Sarah at work, she is passionate on social care, the NHS and equality. Watching her mother and her colleagues struggled with poor pay, failing equipment and limited ward budgets means that fighting for a better funded NHS providing universal free care, based on need not money, was and will always be something she will work tirelessly. Her commitment to Hastings and Rye is formidable."

We think she is our first Chinese Labour parliamentary candidate and hopefully our first Chinese Labour Member of Parliament. "

Former Hastings & Rye Labour MP Michael Foster, "I was delighted to be the first ever Labour MP in Hastings & Rye, and I'm delighted that we're now on course for our first woman Labour MP. Sarah will be a real match for Tory MP Amber Rudd, and I look forward to some exciting local campaigning in the months and years ahead."

Labour South East's regional director Malcolm Powers said, "Winning back Labour support in the South in places like Hastings and Rye is a big part of winning our way back into Government. With Sarah Owen, local people have a strong and talented Labour candidate ready to take the fight to David Cameron's Tories".

Cecilia Love, a Chinese adoptee has been selected as Labour's candidate in the Riverside Ward in Cardiff for next year's Council election. Cecilia born to Chinese parents was internationally adopted as a baby by an English mother and a Scottish father. A single parent with a daughter, she has been a Labour Party member for several years and has been an active campaigner.

Cecilia says "As a young single mother and an ethnic minority woman growing up in the UK, we are indebted to the previous Labour government; working tax credits, and child care support have enabled me to contribute positively to society. It is this agenda of social justice and equality of outcomes advanced by Labour that is what motivates me to stay engaged in party politics. Where for me equality, is not purely a moral or ethical issue, but rather, my own life experience is evidence to show the long term economic benefits equality brings for society as a whole. "

Sonny Leong, Chair of Chinese for Labour, "Cecilia embodies a typical hard working, no nonsense Chinese. Her values of hard work, aspiration, family and fairness are also Labour values. We are really pleased that you has been selected, and we think is the first Chinese Labour candidate and hopefully the first Chinese Labour elected councillor in Wales."

'Cecilia Love will make an outstanding Labour councillor. She is hard-working, committed and deeply immersed in those issues which matter most in the community she seeks to represent. Her own background will bring an additional dimension to the work of the council and its engagement with the wider communities of Cardiff. I look forward very much to working with her in the future'. Mark Drakeford, Cardiff West Assembly Member commented on her selection.