Who is running in the race to become Labour’s new deputy leader?

Six MPs have thrown their hat in the ring to become Labour’s next deputy leader.

They are vying to succeed Angela Rayner, who quit last week after a row over her tax affairs.

Candidates have until 5pm on Thursday to secure the support of 80 MPs in order to reach the next round.

Who is in the running?

– Bridget Phillipson

Ms Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has emerged as the early frontrunner, securing the backing of the most colleagues in the first official tally after nominations opened on Tuesday.

A close ally of Sir Keir Starmer, she is one of the few Cabinet ministers to have stayed in the same role in his recent reshuffle.

Announcing her bid for the deputy leadership, she described herself as “a proud working-class woman from the North East” who had gone from “a single-parent family on a tough council street” to the Cabinet table.

These credentials could play well within the party, where some figures have expressed a preference for Ms Rayner’s successor to be both a woman and someone hailing from the north of England.

However, being a member of Sir Keir’s Cabinet could count against her if MPs want the deputy to be more of a thorn in the side of the Government.

Ms Phillipson, who said she had taken on “powerful vested interests in the education sector”, has generally won plaudits from MPs for her work in the education brief.

She also vowed to take the fight to Nigel Farage’s party, saying: “We all know the dangers Reform poses to our country.”

At school in the former mining town of Washington, Ms Phillipson was a star pupil who won a place at Oxford University before becoming MP for Houghton and Sunderland South in 2010 aged just 26.

– Lucy Powell

Former Commons leader Lucy Powell has 35 of the 99 overall nominations as of Tuesday evening.

The Manchester Central MP would bring a similar geographical balance to Ms Phillipson.

Having been sacked by Sir Keir in his reshuffle, her status as more of an outsider could work in her favour.

Ms Powell, from the party’s soft left, had been urged by several of her colleagues to stand for the deputy leadership, and said she had made the decision “after much encouragement”.

Describing herself as “proud” to have served in Sir Keir’s Government, Ms Powell said her politics were “rooted” in “an understanding of people’s everyday hopes and fears”.

She said she would aim to bring “together all parts of the party and uniting our broad voter coalition”.

– Bell Ribeiro-Addy

Backbencher Ms Ribeiro-Addy was the first to declare her candidacy.

Seen as coming from the left of the party and supported by Socialist Campaign Group chairman Richard Burgon, she has called for Labour to “go back to the guiding values of our party and movement”.

The Clapham and Brixton Hill MP has also called for wealth taxes, scrapping the two-child benefit cap, imposing a full arms embargo and sanctions on Israel, unbanning Palestine Action and returning the whip to MPs “punished for voting with their consciences”.

With eight nominations so far, she is unlikely to get enough supporters to enter the next round, but she is using her campaign to call on the Government to change course.

– Dame Emily Thornberry

The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman sits on the backbenches but held a number of senior roles in opposition.

An MP since 2005, Dame Emily was shadow attorney general, but did not make it into Sir Keir’s Cabinet after the general election.

The Islington South and Finsbury MP, who has seven nominations, wrote on X: “We fought hard for a Labour government. But we’ve made mistakes and must listen.

“Welfare. Gaza. Wealth tax. Changes to come on SEND.

“I will be a voice for the membership, unions, PLP, and our constituents – not just nod along.”

– Paula Barker

Liverpool Wavertree MP Ms Barker said she was running because she is “worried about the lack of geographical and political diversity at the top of our Party…

“Having spent almost 30 years in public service and 20 years representing my colleagues as a trade union official – I believe as a Party we have stepped too far away from traditional Labour principles”.

Warning that “we cannot fight Reform at their own game”, she said Labour should instead “go back to our true Labour values, which means fighting for our public services, putting workers back at the heart of our agenda, and fulfilling our promise to prioritise people over profit”.

Ms Barker, an MP since 2019, quit Labour’s front bench as shadow minister for devolution and the English regions over the party’s stance on Gaza in 2023.

She has three nominations so far.

– Alison McGovern

Housing minister Ms McGovern, launching her bid for the deputy leadership, vowed to defeat the “huge threat from the dark forces of right-wing populism” by fighting for “the right to a home, a job and to feel part of this country”.

The Birkenhead MP, who entered Parliament in 2010 aged 29, highlighted her family roots in Merseyside, pitching to those within the party calling for a northerner to become the next deputy leader.

“Over the past 15 years, I have worked hand in hand with Labour and trade union members, campaigning for good jobs and against child poverty and the need for foodbanks,” she said in a statement.

She is a former chairwoman of Progress, the Labour organisation founded to back Tony Blair’s leadership, and served as a parliamentary aide to then-prime minister Gordon Brown.

The tally puts her in last place with two nominations.