After Labour experienced its worst general election result since 1935 and Jeremy Corbyn announced that he would not be leading the party into the next election, Brig examines those who wish to be his successor.
Before entering politics in 2015 as the MP for St Pancras and Holborn , Sir Kier Starmer had been the Director of Public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. Starmer currently serves in the shadow cabinet as the party’s Brexit secretary, a position which he has held since 2016.
Starmer has made several pledges if he is elected as Labour leader such as the abolition of both universal credit and tuition fees and bringing things such as water,energy,mail and rail into public ownership. In a campaign statement about why he was putting himself forward for the role, Starmer said:
“I’ve spent my life fighting injustice and standing up to the powerful.
“I’m now standing to be leader of our Labour Party because I’m determined to unite our movement, take on the Tories and build a better future.
“Labour only wins when we’re united and when we have a radical vision of the future that people can trust.
“If I’m elected leader, I’ll bring the movement together and I’ll retain the radicalism of the last four years.
“We need to work much more closely with our fantastic Labour councillors, mayors and with Welsh and Scottish Labour.”
Another contender to replace Corbyn as leader of the party is also a member of the current shadow cabinet as the party’s shadow secretary of state for business and industrial strategy, Rebecca Long Bailey. Long-Bailey has been an MP for Eccles and Salford since 2015 and prior to becoming an MP was a solicitor.
Long Bailey has expressed support for the ideas of an elected senate to replace the House of Lords and creating a constitutional convention. Long bailey said in a statement about the reasons behind her candidacy:
“We all think that if we work hard and play by the rules we should expect to have a comfortable life. But that isn’t true for millions of people; anxiety about the future is growing faster than hope that each generation will do better than the last.
“Austerity, entrenched privilege and class divides all work against the overwhelming majority.
“To realise collective aspiration, Labour must take on vested interests, not accommodate them. Whether we live Blyth or Brixton, my vision of aspirational socialism and a democratic revolution will excite a movement for renewal.
The final candidate for Leader of the labour party is the current MP for Wigan, Lisa Nandy who has held several junior ministerial roles in the shadow cabinet such as shadow Minister for children and shadow Minister for charities but was promoted to a more senior role within the shadow cabinet after Jeremy Corbyn first became leader of the Labour party and was a member of the shadow cabinet for energy and climate change until she resigned in 2016. Nandy has published a plan to tackle antisemitism , In a statement about her candidacy, Nandy has said:
“In December, voters sent us a clear message – change, or die. There are no more second chances for Labour.
“Now is not the time to steady the ship or to play it safe. Changing the man at the top and expecting a different result isn’t enough. We need a different kind of leadership, and that means a different kind of leader. From Finland to New Zealand, we’re seeing what that leadership can look like. It means making the bold choice, not the easy one. This is our moment.
“I am standing to be our next Leader because I believe it takes a movement to change things.”
Feature image credit: Times of Israel
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