Jess Phillips MP to stand for Labour Party leader
The Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips has confirmed her bid to become the next Labour leader, with a call to elect "a different kind of leader".
The outspoken backbencher warned today (Friday 3rd January) that Labour will see more crushing defeats like the last general election, if the party does not recognise the "fundamental way" that politics has changed.
Phillips, the third candidate to formally announce their leadership bid, is a long-term critic of the current party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
She warned that Labour is in "big trouble" if it can't win back the trust of its working-class base.
Last month's election results were the worst for the Labour Party since 1935.
In a statement, the Remain-backing MP said voters had lost trust in the Labour Party. She stressed the need for the Prime Minister to be challenged with "passion, heart and precision".
Among her criticisms of the current leadership were the "woeful response" toanti-Semitism within the party's ranks and for Mr Corbyn's ambiguity on Brexit.
She will meet former Labour voters in the Bury North constituency which the party lost to the Tories tomorrow (Saturday 4th January).
Ms Phillips took to social media to announce her candidacy, with a video in which she visited the North Wales constituency of Delyn that Labour lost to the Tories for the first time since 1987.
The race to replace Jeremy Corbyn will gather momentum next week, and the new leader is not expected to take charge until the end of March.
Mr Corbyn was criticised for Labour's disastrous results in last month's general election, that saw Boris Johnson's Tories win an 80-strong majority.
Watch below when Jess Phillips spoke to our reporter Hannah Bechelet at last month's election, when she was asked if she could be the next Labour Leader:
Other Labour Party leadership candidates already announced:
Emily Thornberry MP
Clive Lewis MP
Jess Phillips: "Of course, somebody like me could be the Leader of the Labour Party"