Liz Kendall has received the 35th nomination she needed to secure her a place on the leadership ballot.
Kendall is one of five people in the running to be Labour’s next leader – she is competing with Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn and Mary Creagh. Candidates need the backing of 15% of MPs (35 people) to stay in the contest.
Last night, Kendall’s campaign announced that she had met this threshold with the support of Gloria De Piero, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.
De Piero also announced she was backing Tom Watson to be Labour’s next deputy leader. This takes Watson to 10 votes. The deputy leadership contest is a close one, with the majority of candidates receiving roughly 8 t0 10 backers. Although Caroline Flint has picked up 24 supporters so far.
De Piero’s decision to support Kendall came after the Parliamentary Labour Party hustings. She explained her choice of candidate to The Mirror:
“We need someone from the new generation of Labour MPs to be making the case for change in the Labour party. Liz is asking the really tough questions that we need to ask. She’s recognised the scale of the defeat, that we lost and lost badly. I think it’s absolutely crucial Liz is on the ballot paper.”
The nominations process officially opens today and close next Monday. You can keep up to to date with how many nominations candidates have received here.
Update:
“As proud members of trade unions and former trade union officials, we are backing Liz Kendall to be Labour’s next leader because of her determination to turn the page so we can win again and reverse the Tories’ assault on working people.
“Liz has led the debate in this contest so far with her bold and clear pledge to reverse any cuts to rights at work and trade union protections that the Tory government passes this parliament.
“We are looking forward to working with her to help unions increase their reach into workplaces that have been under-represented for too long.”
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