Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and ex-Commons leader Lucy Powell will go head-to-head in the race to replace Angela Rayner as Labour deputy leader. The pair secured enough nominations to make it through the first stage of the contest.
Backbencher Bell Ribeiro-Addy was knocked out of the race after she failed to get the 80 nominations from Labour MPs required to advance to the next stage. Ms Phillipson picked up 175 nominations, Ms Powell 117 and Ms Ribeiro-Addy 24, according to the final tally after Thursday’s 5pm deadline.
The three other MPs who initially threw their hat in the ring – Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry, backbencher Paula Barker and housing minister Alison McGovern – dropped out before nominations closed after struggling to reach the threshold.
Ms Phillipson and Ms Powell must now secure the support of 5% of constituency Labour Party branches (CLPs) or of three affiliate groups, including trade unions.
After making their pitches to members at the Liverpool conference, the online ballot of members will be conducted from October 8 to October 23, with the result announced on Saturday October 25.
Ms Powell was sacked as Leader of the Commons in Sir Keir Starmer’s latest reshuffle, meaning a victory for her would be guaranteed to spark bigger tensions within the Labour Party.
According to a YouGov poll of Labour voters, 62% said that coming from a working-class background is very or fairly important, followed by being from outside London and the South.
Some 42% of Labour voters said that the winning candidate should be from the left of the party, compared to just 27% of the wider electorate.