Unite member Liz McInnes was celebrating yesterday after winning a controversial Labour selection fight for the Heywood and Middleton by-election.

Ms McInnes’s name will be on ballot papers in the October 9 by-election — called after former MP Jim Dobbin died last week on a parliamentary trip to Poland.

Health scientist and Lancashire councillor McInnes won the support of local members in a selection meeting held on Monday evening.

Ms McInnes beat off celebrity competition from outspoken former Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly.

Ms O’Reilly was among a final shortlist of four — selected by Labour’s national executive committee — which did not include any local candidates.

That sparked anger among some local members who accused Labour’s NEC of fixing the selection.

Campaigning Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk said Ms McInnes’s victory was a reaction to stich-up efforts.

“This sends a clear message to the metropolitan lovey fixers in the Labour Party that party members in the north will not put up with the higher echelons fixing it for the party ranks in the south,” he told the Manchester Evening News.

The row comes on the eve of Labour’s national conference that takes place in Manchester from Sunday.

The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) is preparing a bid to limit the power of the NEC in shortlisting candidates at next year’s conference.

CLPD spokesman John Lansman told the Star: “I would like to see fewer people who’ve only ever worked in politics dominating selections.”

But he insisted Labour should not have an “absolute rule against outsiders or someone who’s been to Oxbridge.”

Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation (TULO) national officer Byron Taylor was the other candidate with no connection to the constituency.

And Mr Lansman said: “I don’t regard him as a careerist. He’s been doing an extremely good job for a number of years.”

Mr Dobbin won a commanding 5,971 majority for Labour in Heywood and Middleton at the 2010 general election.

Ms McInnes’s faces a strong challenge from Ukip and their candidate John Bickley.

But she dismissed their charge yesterday, saying: “We all know that Ukip aren’t the answer — they don’t share our values.”