What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Labour activists sang “oh Jeremy Corbyn” with new words tonight as they packed out Rebecca Long-Bailey’s first rally.

Hundreds gave the left-wing leadership hopeful a raucous welcome as she launched her campaign at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester - where she was first taken 30 years ago as a child.

The Corbyn ally joked “guys, we’re going to have to think of a new song” after activists chanted “Oh, Becky Long-Bailey” to the tune of White Stripes hit Seven Nation Army.

Surrounded by dozens of bright-lit screens bearing her name, she pledged to “unite, rebuild and win” after Labour ’s worst election defeat since 1935.

The Shadow Business Secretary said: “If someone had told me 30 years ago when I first came here that I’d be back in 2020, standing on a podium telling you all I was going to be leader of the party and the next Prime Minister, I’d have thought I’d stumbled out of the Hacienda having taken something.”

Ms Long-Bailey confirmed details of a key policy - scrapping the House of Lords.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

In its place would be an elected Senate, based outside London and voted in through proportional representation.

Ms Long-Bailey was introduced by new MP Zarah Sultana, who this week described the last 40 years as “Thatcherism” and once said she would celebrate the death of Tony Blair .

But Ms Long-Bailey praised Tony Blair’s election win in 1997, saying on that day “you could literally see people with a spring in their step, with hope for the future again.”

She vowed to fight for a string of policies from Labour’s failed election manifesto - from “modern democratic public ownership” to a Green New Deal.

But she attempted to shrug off claims she is the “Corbyn continuity candidate” - admitting the party needs “a new professionalism” after losing the trust of Jewish voters over anti-Semitism.

(Image: Getty Images)

“We need to look like a government in waiting,” she admitted.

She said members in Salford were faced with people on the doorstep who wouldn’t vote Labour due to the “crisis”.

“They didn’t believe in us enough and we’ve got a lot of work to do to rebuild trust,” she said.

A YouGov poll of members tonight put Ms Long-Bailey far behind rival Keir Starmer - on 37% to his 63% in the final round.

Even ardent Corbyn supporter Ricky Tomlinson, the Royle Family star, swung behind Sir Keir.

Asked why voters should back her instead of Sir Keir, Ms Long-Bailey said she could reunite communities that didn’t vote Labour despite suffering years of de-industrialisation.

She added: “I’m not from Westminster. Not from the London bubble.”

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Ms Long-Bailey said a lot of success was down to luck. “A lucky birth, a lucky break at work, a gamble that pays off.”

And she said Labour should not wait until winning power to get change on the climate crisis.

“We have to use our power as a movement to demand change. If we wait until 2024, we know our time is running out”.

The candidate ducked giving a firm answer on whether she would scrap private schools or decriminalise drugs.

But she revealed more about her trip to Amsterdam - where she hinted she smoked cannabis. She said: “I’ll leave it to you to decide why I was in Amsterdam.

“But it was either my inherent love of flower markets or it was to partake in the local delicacies.”

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Calling for a “national discussion” on drugs policy, she said: “I don’t have the answers on this but I do think we need to have a national discussion about the war on drugs.

“Because I’ve seen the devastation that it causes to lives, particularly in my own city.

“We need to have a sensible national approach to this and a conversation about the most pragmatic way forward.”

And she answered the most pressing question of all - after her promotional material spelt her name with a hyper.

She joked: “There is an official hyphen in the Long-Bailey dynasty name. I’m Rebecca Long-Bailey the first.”