Starmer and Rayner win Labour Business leadership nominations

Labour leadership candidate Keir Starmer and deputy leadership contender Angela Rayner have both gained nominations Labour Business today.

The socialist society, which is officially affiliated to the Labour Party and therefore has nomination powers in its leadership elections, conducted an all-member ballot to make its endorsement decision.

According to Labour Business, Starmer received 63% of first preference votes, while Angela Rayner received 56% of votes in the third round of balloting for the deputy leadership. Turnout was 67%.

The group said Lisa Nandy came second in its leadership ballot, with 24%, while Rebecca Long-Bailey came third with 8% and Emily Thornberry came fourth with 5%.

For deputy leadership hopefuls, Rosena Allin-Khan placed second, with Ian Murray coming third, Richard Burgon fourth and Dawn Butler fifth.

Commenting on the results, Labour Business chair Hamish Sandison described the result as “decisive” and said it showed members had “full confidence in these candidates to deliver the business policies we need”.

“It’s a leadership team that can be trusted on the economy,” Sandison added. “If they receive the support of a majority of Labour Party members in the final round of voting, we look forward to working with them to hold the government to account and win the next general election.”