Phillipson joins race for Labour deputy leader

NORTH East MP Bridget Phillipson has said she will stand to be deputy leader of the Labour Party, following the resignation of Angela Rayner.

- GRAEME WHITFIELD

The Houghton and Sunderland South MP has become the first person to formally declare their candidacy for the role, though left-wing London MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy has also indicated she would like to stand.

A number of figures within Labour have said the deputy leader should be a woman and from the North to balance out the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer and the new deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, both MPs from London.

In a statement announcing her intention to stand, Ms Phillipson highlighted her working class Northern roots and indicated that one of the main focuses of the deputy leader role would be to take on Reform UK, which is ahead in the polls.

Ms Phillipson, who remained as Education Secretary in last week's Cabinet reshuffle, said: "I am a proud working-class woman from the North East. I have come from a single parent family on a tough council street, all the way to the Cabinet, determined to deliver better life chances for young people growing up in our country.