Former councillor tipped to become Labour's Holyrood candidate in Edinburgh Eastern

A FORMER city councillor is tipped to be chosen tonight as Labour’s candidate in the Holyrood seat which ex-party leader Kezia Dugdale fought at the last election.

Bill Cook was deputy finance convener for five years

Bill Cook, who represented Liberton/Gilmerton ward for seven years until stepping down in 2017, is one of four contenders hoping to fight Edinburgh Eastern at the next Scottish Parliament elections in 2021.The constituency, once a Labour stronghold, was won by Kenny MacAskill for the SNP in 2007 after Labour’s Susan Deacon stood down.And Mr MacAskill was succeeded in 2016 by fellow Nationalist Ash Denham, who had a majority of 5087 over Ms Dugdale in that year’s election.Mr Cook, a former engineer with defence firm Selex, was elected to the council in a by-election in 2010 and served as Labour’s community safety spokesman, then deputy finance convener for five years in the Labour-SNP coalition.The other hopefuls in tonight’s selection contest are party activists Joyce Nicol, Daniel Moran and Steven Howson.