Angela Rayner says Labour ‘must win or die’ as she enters deputy leadership race

Tipped as a possible successor to Jeremy Corbyn, Ms Rayner backs Rebecca Long Bailey for top job instead

Angela Rayner has said Labour faces the “biggest challenge in our history” to win back lost voters as she laid out her pitch to become the party’s deputy leader.

Once tipped as a possible successor to Jeremy Corbyn, the shadow education secretary instead threw her weight behind Rebecca Long Bailey for the top job as she confirmed her plans to stand for the deputy role.

Ms Rayner said Labour must “win or die” after its catastrophic election defeat in December, where Boris Johnson seized control of swathes of the party’s traditional heartlands in the north and the Midlands.

The “quick fix” of a new leader will not be enough to solve Labour’s woes, she said, warning that the party faced the “fight of our lives” to win back the 123 seats needed to secure a majority at the next election.

Her intervention comes as Labour’s ruling body met to set the rules for a contest to replace both Mr Corbyn and his deputy Tom Watson.

Addressing party faithful on the housing estate where she was raised in Stockport, Ms Rayner said: “Our coalition, the foundation of our party, is broken.

“Some blame Brexit, some blame the leadership. We all know both came up time and again, not least in seats like this one and my own.

“Yet neither will be the defining issue at the next general election. Politics makes for short memories.

“But this crisis has been a long time coming. It is the biggest challenge in our history.”

Ms Rayner added: “As a party we face a choice: win or die. And I fight to win.”

The Ashton-under-Lyme MP, who left school at 16 without any qualifications, said Labour had been “patronising” to many of its own supporters for too long.

She said: “I talk about my background because for too long I felt I wasn’t good enough; I felt ashamed of who I was. It took me time for that shame to turn into pride.

“Because I remember when I first spoke from the front bench in the House of Commons, a parliamentary sketch writer said I must have got lost from the set of Little Britain.

“It was another way of saying I didn’t know my place.”

The frontbencher endorsed her friend and flatmate, Ms Long Bailey, who is seen as the heir to the Corbyn project.

She said: “I don’t pretend that I have all the answers. That is the point of being a collectivist. That by the strength of our common endeavour, we achieve more than we do alone.

“It is why I want the leadership of our party to be a team effort. I will be quite straightforward: I will be voting for my friend Rebecca Long Bailey if she stands for the leadership.”

Taking questions afterwards, Ms Rayner said the duo were “two fantastic women” and suggested “we’ve had plenty of blokes from London before”.

She said she “took offence” at Ms Long Bailey being described as the “continuity Corbyn” candidate, adding: “She is her own woman and she will say what she stands for. She isn’t Corbynism, she isn’t Blairism, she isn’t Brownism.

“She is Rebecca Long Bailey and people should give her the chance to outline what that means for her and her leadership campaign.”

Ms Long Bailey has not officially announced her candidacy but tweeted her support for her friend’s campaign.

Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon is also running for the deputy role, against his shadow cabinet colleague Dawn Butler and Birmingham Perry MP Khalid Mahmood.

The party's sole Scottish MP, Ian Murray, is also reportedly considering running for the job.

Meanwhile, five candidates are vying for the top job, including shadow cabinet members Sir Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry, influential backbenchers Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips, and shadow treasury minister Clive Lewis.