Labour leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy has claimed voters found the prospect of a Jeremy Corbyn-led government “frightening” rather than empowering ahead of the party’s worst electoral defeat of the post-war era.

Delivering the first major speech of her campaign to succeed Mr Corbyn, the Wigan MP urged party members to make the “brave, not the easy choice” and change course with a different type of leader.

Ms Nandy, who quit the Labour frontbench in 2016, is one of five contenders to reach the second stage of the contest after a scramble for nominations went down to the wire on Monday.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry secured the required number of nominations from MPs in the final hours of the first round, after Clive Lewis, also a shadow minister, pulled out of the race.

Ms Nandy will now join her colleagues, including Ms Thornberry, fellow backbencher Jess Phillips, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, and the shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey in lobbying for the backing of key unions and Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) across the country.

The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Show all 8 1 /8 The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Keir Starmer The former director of public prosecutions undoubtedly has announced that he is standing for the leadership. He is highly-regarded by both left-wingers and centrists in the party. As Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, he played a key role in the party’s eventual backing of a second referendum. Before becoming an MP, he was a human rights lawyer - conducting cases in international courts including the European Court of Human Rights. Launching his bid, Starmer said that Labour must listen to the public on how to change "restore trust in our party as a force for good." A YouGov poll places him comfortably in the lead as the preferred candidate of 36% of party members EPA The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Lisa Nandy Wigan MP Lisa Nandy has announced she wil stand for the leadership. In a letter to the Wigan Post she said she wanted to bring Labour "home" to voters in its traditional strongholds who have abandoned the party. Nandy went on to say that she understands "that we have one chance to win back the trust of people in Wigan, Workington and Wrexham." A YouGov poll shows that Nandy is the first preference for 6% of partymembers. Getty The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Rebecca Long Bailey A key ally of the current left-wing leadership of the party, the Salford & Eccles MP is viewed in some quarters as the natural successor to Mr Corbyn and describes herself as a “proud socialist”. Highly regarded by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. She won also won plaudits for her performance filling in for Corbyn both at prime minister’s questions and during the general election debates. The shadow business secretary grew up by Old Trafford football ground and began her working life serving at the counter of a pawn shop. Launching her leadership bid, Long Bailey said the party needs to make the positive case for immigration as a "positive force." She also broke with Corbyn over Trident, saying "If you have a deterrent you have to be prepared to use it." PA The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Angela Rayner - Deputy leadership Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner has joined the contest for deputy leadership of the party. After ruling herself out of running for the leadership, the Ashton-under-Lynne MP launched her bid for deputy warning that Labour faces the "biggest challenge" in its history and must "win or die." She is close with leadership contender Rebecca Long Bailey PA The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Rosena Allin-Khan - Deputy leadership Shadow sport minister Rosena Allin-Khan said Labour need to listen with "humility" to lost voters as she launched her bid for the deputy leadership. Writing in The Independent, the MP for Tooting refelcted: "We shouldn’t have ignored the warning signs in Scotland, and now we’ve paid the price in northern England, across the midlands and in Wales." PA The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Dawn Butler - Deputy leadership Shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler was first to announce her bid for the deputy leadership. The Brent Central MP has served in Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet since 2016 PA The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Ian Murray - Deputy leadership Labour's only MP in Scotland said that the architects of the party's "catastrophic failure" in the December election can not be allowed to lead the party forward PA The battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader Richard Burgon - Deputy leadership Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon is standing as a continuity candidate, flaunting his loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn and saying it is wrong to blame the current leader for the election defeat PA

Referencing the so-called red wall of strongholds across the Midlands and the north that fell to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives at the December election, she told activists gathered in Dagenham, east London: “The stark truth is, the path back to power for Labour will never be to build along the red wall.

“The path back to power for the Labour Party will be built right across that red bridge that stretches from our major metropolitan cities, through our suburbs and into our smaller towns and villages as well.”

Ms Nandy, who described the election defeat as “shattering”, also told her supporters that now is not the time “to steady the ship or play it safe”, adding: “If we do not change course we will die and we will deserve to. This is the moment when we up our game and recover our ambition. So I am asking you to make the brave, not the easy choice, in this leadership contest.”

Quizzed on whether she would stick with some of the radical policies offered by Mr Corbyn – including the nationalisation of key industries – she replied: “We have to understand that the problem we caused for a lot of people in this election, was not that they thought we were too radical, not that they didn’t support the things we were putting forward, but they just simply looked at the prospect of a Labour government and instead of finding it empowering they found it frightening.”

The backbencher also elaborated on what she meant by the “easy choice”, insisting she was not attempting to make any implicit criticism of other candidates in the contest. “I think there is a tendency at times like this to retreat, to play it safe and to not choose change. I am obviously not a candidate that represents safety or stability,” she said.

“I don’t look like the leaders that we’ve chosen in the past and I suspect I don’t sound like them either. There’s no implicit criticism of any other candidate, but I would be the braver, rather than easier option in this leadership contest. For all the reasons I’ve set out, I think it’s vital that we do something different this time round.”

Paying tribute to the Ford machinists and their landmark fight for equal pay in Dagenham, Ms Nandy also said they showed the world “what strong women leaders” do when they refuse to accept the status quo.

“So it is awesome – in the literal sense of the world – to be standing here in this community, so rich with the past and so radical about the future, asking for your permission to lead our party back to power and become this country’s next Labour prime minister,” she added.

There will also be five candidates to become the deputy leader – with Angela Rayner the overwhelming favourite to beat Rosena Allin-Khan, Richard Burgon, Dawn Butler and Ian Murray.

The race is now on to clear the next hurdle, to gain nominations from five per cent of constituency Labour parties (33), or from at least three affiliate organisations, of which at least two must be unions.