Politics

Labour leadership hustings LIVE: Five MPs vying to succeed Jeremy Corbyn grilled at debate as leadership race heats up



The five candidates vying to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader are taking place in the first hustings of the leadership race. 

The hustings, held in Liverpool, is seeing the would-be leaders battle it out on issues such as Brexit, anti-Semitism and how to move the party forward following its historic defeat at the election in December. 

It comes as a poll shows that shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer is the front-runner, with rising Labour star Rebecca Long-Bailey in second place. 


The two favourites are going head to head at the hustings with Wigan MP Lisa Nandy, Birmingham Yardley’s Jess Phillips and shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry. 

Read our live updates below..

Live Updates



Rebecca Long-Bailey says of herself:

That child from Old Trafford who watched her famiy struggle is angry. Her life was nearly shattered and now she’s here to shatter the Tory majority.”


Sir Kier says uppermost in Labour’s has to be victory at the next general election.


Emily Thornberry calls herself a “girly swot” before slamming the PM as a “liar” who “doesn’t care”.

 

She goes on to accuse him of having a “woman problem” and of being the “single worse foreign secretary”.

 

“I was part of exposing that,” she says with pride.


The audience boos at the mention of “Boris”.


Sir Keir says of Brexit: “I think people are really fed up of it. Europe tore the Tory party apart for 40 years, we cannot allow it to tear us apart for 10-20 years.”


“We’ve got to fight Boris Johnson. We’ve got to be there taking the argument to him. We have got to be a very, very effective opposition,” Kier Starmer says. 

 

He has also called on his party to think carefully about why Labour suffered such a crushing defeat in December’s general election.


Jess Phillips says Boris Johnson will just “throw money at places he thinks will vote for him” over the next four years.


The candidates are now being asked about how to reunite country after Brexit.

 

 


Sir Keir Starmer says there has been “far too much division” in the party. 

 

He added that values have to be “modelled from the top.” 

 

“We are unstoppable when we’re united,” he added. 

 

 


Lisa Nandy says that Labour’s “breadth” is what gives the party “reach” in the country. 

 

“It starts now: we raise the bar, defend one another and move forwards together,” she said. 


Emily Thornberry said the Labour Party is the “coalition of the Left”.

 

She said: “The Left always has disagreements, but we are united.”

 

“Every day we spend fighting ourselves in the media is a day we waste fighting the Tories,” she added. 


Jess Phillips said that name-calling has been “horrendous”.

 

She said that the Labour Party had a “common goal” of winning the next election. 


Rebecca Long-Bailey is answering first.

 

She says that “uniting” is the only way to keep the Tories out of power. 


The first question is:

 

“How would you unite the party and stop factionalism?”


The compere is introducing the candidates.

 

Each candidate will have just 40 seconds to answer each question and will be timed on a stopwatch. 


Here’s a reminder on who is standing:

 


Rebecca Long-Bailey, described as a rising star in the Labour party, officially launched her bid to become leader on Friday.

 

The shadow business secretary vowed to “shake up” the way government works, and put power into the hands of voters.

 

As she took to the stage for the launch at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, some of the 300 or so supporters at the event broke into a chant of “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”.

 

You can read more about the launch event here: 

Rebecca Long-Bailey launched her campaign in Manchester

 

 


Welcome to our live blog, where we’ll be bringing you updates as the five candidates vying to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader take place in the first hustings of the leadership contest.

 

You can read more about it HERE: 

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