Housing minister Alison McGovern pulls out of Labour deputy leadership race

Bridget Phillipson has made it to the next round of Labour's deputy leadership contest after storming ahead with 116 nominations of the party's MPs.

The education secretary is followed by former Commons Leader Lucy Powell who has 77 votes - just shy of the 80 required to make it onto the ballot paper.

The remaining three candidates were further adrift, with left-wing MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy on 15 nominations, Liverpool Wavertree MP Paula Barker on 14 and Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry on 13.

The tally from the Parliamentary Labour Party came after housing minister Alison McGovern dropped out of the race, conceding she would not get the support required.

The candidates need 80 nominations by 5pm Thursday. There are still over 100 MPs left to vote, with an online hustings being held tonight to give undecided MPs a chance to ask questions of the contenders.

The race was triggered by the resignation of former deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove.

Politics Live: Candidate drops out of race to be Labour's new deputy leader

Earlier Ms McGovern said: "Despite picking up support today it is clear that the momentum of this contest has shifted and I am not going to progress to the next stage.

"I am pulling out of the race now to allow my supporters to switch their nominations to one of the remaining candidates before the deadline.

"I want to thank everyone who has offered me support and encouragement in this race. I will be nominating my friend and colleague Bridget Phillipson as the candidate best placed to unite our party and take the fight to our opponents."

Ms McGovern was coming last according to a tally released by the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Tuesday evening, when she had just two nominations compared to Ms Phillipson's 44.

Last night sources close to her insisted there was time to catch up, and that the PLP's tally didn't reflect the full level of support behind her - given just a quarter of MPs had voted at this stage.

Ms McGovern had pitched herself as someone who could fight against populism in announcing her deputy leadership bid and repeated that argument in her exit statement, saying she would make the case for a progressive argument "in support of whoever our deputy leader is".

The MP for Birkenhead was rumoured to be Number 10's preferred choice before it was clear Ms Phillipson would enter the race.

As government ministers both are seen as candidates that would be loyal to Sir Keir Starmer, though Ms Phillipson is the more senior of the two as she holds a cabinet position, whereas Ms McGovern is a junior minister.

Many Labour MPs are keen to see someone who would work constructively with the prime minister to avoid deepening factionalism within the party.

However others want someone who will challenge Sir Keir to be bolder as Labour languishes behind Reform UK in the polls.