Labour members have begun casting their votes in the party’s contest to replace outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Sir Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy and Rebecca Long-Bailey qualified for the ballot after obtaining enough support from unions and affiliated groups.

The party is also choosing a new deputy leader, following Tom Watson’s resignation in December.

Voting will close on 2 April, with the results announced at a special conference two days later.

Among those taking part will be 114,000 new members who have joined since December’s election, where Labour won its lowest number of seats since 1935.

Members of affiliated trades unions and groups can also vote, as well as around 14,700 “registered supporters” who have paid £25 to take part on a one-off basis.

To qualify for the ballot, candidates needed support from three unions or affiliates representing 5% of the membership, or 33 constituency Labour parties (CLPs).

Sir Keir, the party’s Brexit spokesman, is seen as the front-runner in the contest and has secured the most nominations from unions and affiliates, as well as CLPs.

He said the party needs to stop “taking lumps out of each other,” adding that the “trashing” of former Labour governments “has to stop”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have to pull together and unite – and I feel that’s where the membership is.”

Shadow cabinet posts

He also attacked the government’s latest immigration plans, adding that he would get rid of minimum salary thresholds as they were not “the right measure for people coming to this country”.

Speaking at a members’ hustings in Durham on Sunday, all three leadership candidates pledged to offer their rivals shadow cabinet posts if they are successful, and said they would happily serve in the winner’s top team.

Sir Keir did not commit to offering roles to his rivals at a previous event last week. Read more



Read also: Whitehall HR boss sought amid Number 10 ‘tensions’