THE region's only ethnic minority MP has condemned Labour's plans for "all-black" shortlists for Westminster seats and warned of "bloodletting".

Dr Ashok Kumar, the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, said the proposal, being pushed by Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, would split local parties and fatally weaken campaigning.

He accused many of its backers of not understanding the impact of imposing shortlists on local Labour activists, who were badly needed to knock on doors and get the voters out.

Dr Kumar said: "They will get their black person, but they will also create hostility, division and resentment in that constituency for years to come.

"That is the problem - bloodletting will break out. You will leave a wounded constituency party when we are all comrades in the same party, surely?"

Dr Kumar, who represents a seat in which nearly 99 per cent of constituents are white, spoke out alongside other black and Asian Labour MPs, as the idea gains ground in the party.

Others went even further, warning of political apartheid, which would segregate ethnic minority MPs into constituencies with large numbers of black and Asian people.

They said that could make it harder to elect further ethnic minority MPs in the North-East or North Yorkshire, because they would be "packed off" instead to places such as Birmingham, Leicester or Luton.

Critics of the plan also point out that Barack Obama has managed to break out of the "black politician" mould to become a viable US presidential candidate, not defined by race.

Nevertheless, Ms Harman is drawing up plans for all-black shortlists, possibly in time for the next General Election.

During her successful deputy leadership campaign, Ms Harman pledged to quadruple the number of ethnic minority MPs. There are currently only 15 out of 646 MPs.

Dr Kumar said he did not want to hold himself as an example of someone who could win selection without the help of an all-black shortlist.

He said: "When I think of the white people who put in so much effort on my behalf in the early Nineties to help get me elected, then I would not want to exclude them."