Open letter: Nandy as leader can “end in-fighting” with “vision for real change”

Lisa Nandy as Labour’s next leader would “end the in-fighting” in the party and “deliver a vision for real change”, 60 supporters – including Jonathan Ashworth –  have said in a new open letter, LabourList can reveal.

Writing after the leadership candidate and MP for Wigan secured more than the MP and MEP nominations required to enter the next stage of the election, figures from across the labour movement have set out their reasons for backing Nandy.

The group of MPs, cabinet members, peers, councillors, former ministers, Assembly Members and activists say their preferred candidate has “the ideas to unite our party again” and “the insights needed to reconnect with the people that Labour must win back”.

Highlighting her work on protecting the rights of child migrants and as chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, the signatories argue that Nandy has “time and again demonstrated the kind of leadership that has too often been absent from our politics”.

The advocates conclude their letter by saying: “The future of the Labour Party lies in our ability to set aside factionalism and to empower every part of our movement. It is time to end the in-fighting, and to deliver a vision for real change.”

Below is the full text of the open letter by Lisa Nandy supporters.

To the editor,

This election result was devastating for our party, our movement, and those lifelong Labour voters who felt that they had little choice but to vote for the Tories. Our defeat was years in the making.

Too many people feel that Labour is unwilling or unable to understand their lives. They no longer believed in our ability to deliver radical change or to protect the things that mattered to them. In order to win back the trust of these communities Labour must be rooted in them, listen to them, and be prepared to work to regain their trust.

We are a group of MPs, peers, councillors, Assembly Members, activists and former ministers who believe we need a leader who can do this and who has the ideas to unite our party again as well as the insights needed to reconnect with the people that Labour must win back. We believe that person is Lisa Nandy.

For a decade Lisa has given a voice in Westminster to those who have felt silenced in the national debate. From protecting the rights of child migrants and fighting for the recognition of Palestine, to holding the government to account on its failed rail franchising, and championing the achievements of Labour councils in working to tackle the climate crisis, Lisa has time and again demonstrated the kind of leadership that has too often been absent from our politics.

She has stood shoulder to shoulder with our public sector staff and trade unions to demand better conditions at work, taken the fight to Tory Prime Ministers in parliament, and is the only leadership candidate to have served both as a local councillor and in the shadow cabinet. That is the kind of leader we need.

The future of the Labour Party lies in our ability to set aside factionalism and to empower every part of our movement. It is time to end the in-fighting, and to deliver a vision for real change.

Yours,

Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley
Jon Ashworth, MP for Leicester South
Vicky Foxcroft, MP for Lewisham & Deptford
Stephanie Peacock, MP for Barnsley East
Alex Norris, MP for Nottingham North
Peter Hain, Labour peer and former MP for Neath
Ian McCartney, Former MP and Former Chair of the Labour Party
Baroness Morris of Yardley, Former MP and Secretary of State for Education and Skills
Baroness Taylor of Bolton, Former Minister of International Defence and Security
Sir Tony Cunningham, Former MP for Workington and Minister under Gordon Brown
Chris Grocock, Councillor, Rushcliffe Borough Council
Charlotte Galsworthy, Councillor, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council
Georgia Power, Councillor, Nottingham City Council
Jay Hayes, Councillor, Nottingham City Council
Stephen Cunnah, Councillor, Cardiff Council
Calvin Rodgerson, Councillor, Carlisle City Council
Maggie McTernan, Councillor, Glasgow City Council
Eva Murray, Councillor, Glasgow City Council
Dave Thompson, Councillor, Halton Borough Council
John Reynolds, Councillor, Lancaster City Council
Andrew Achilleos, Councillor, Barking & Dagenham London Borough Council
Polly Billington, Councillor, Hackney London Borough Council
Mark Francis, Councillor, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Asma Islam, Councillor, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Ros Flowers, Councillor, Waltham Forest London Borough Council
Craig Wright, Councillor, Middlesbrough Borough Council
Joe Ferreira, Councillor, Bexley London Borough Council
Jon Taylor, Councillor, Plymouth City Council
Micky Leng, Councillor, Reading Borough Council
Laurie Burton, Councillor, Southend-On-Sea Borough Council
James Pritchard, Councillor, Caerphilly County Borough Council
George Davies, Councillor, Wigan Borough Council
Stephen Dawber, Councillor, Wigan Borough Council
Tom Copley, London Assembly Member
Abby Tomlinson, Labour Party Activist
Abdi Duale, Labour Party Activist
Jamie Ali, Labour Party Activist
Luke Hurst, Labour Party Activist
Ben McGowan, Labour Party Activist
Adam Allnutt, Labour Party Activist
James Potts, Labour Party Activist
Zainab Asunramu, Labour Party Activist
Gabe Milne, Labour Party Activist
Alex Holmes, Labour Party Activist
Steve Lapsley, Labour Party Activist
Luke Heselwood, Labour Party Activist
Luisa Attfield, Labour Party Activist
Callum McNally, Activist and former PPC
Seam Smyth, Labour Party Activist
Milly Whibberley, Labour Party Activist
George William Fairhurst, Labour Party Activist
Wrenna Robson, Labour Party Activist
Jenny Symmons, Labour Party Activist
Beth Desmond, Labour Party Activist
Joshua Harris, Labour Party Activist
Aidan Stitt, Labour Party Activist
Sarisha Goodman, Labour Party Activist
Pete Whitehead, Labour Party Activist
Ross McArthur, Labour Party Activist
Lisa Phillips, Labour Party Activist