Death of Corbynism? Rebecca Long-Bailey Falls to Last Place in Labour Party Leadership Contest: Poll

HACKNEY, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey speaks during a Labour Leader
Hollie Adams/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The ‘continuity Corbyn’ candidate, Rebecca Long-Bailey, has fallen to last place in the Labour Party leadership race, spelling trouble for the socialist wing of the party.

Once considered a frontrunner to replace Jeremy Corbyn, Ms Long-Bailey has dropped to fourth place in the race to become the next leader of the Labour Party. The far-left candidate now trails MPs Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry and current frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer.

The Member of Parliament for Salford and Eccles only has the support of 14 per cent of the British public and just 27 per cent amongst Labour Party voters, according to an Ipsos MORI poll conducted for the Evening Standard.

The Labour Party’s shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir, is leading the pack with 45 per cent support from Labour voters, followed by MP for Wigan Lisa Nandy with 33 per cent and Shadow Secretary of State Emily Thornberry with 28 per cent.

Long-Bailey performed particularly poorly with voters who are not currently supporting the Labour Party. Some 79 per cent of those polled said that the would not vote Labour should she become the leader, compared to 76 per cent for Emily Thornberry and 71 per cent for Starmer and Nandy.

In January Long-Bailey wrote that she could “rebuild trust in all of Labour’s heartlands, from Blyth Valley to Brixton — and win the next election”, yet despite this claim, she currently polls last in the South, the Midlands, Scotland, and she currently sits in third place in her home region of the North.

Ms Long-Bailey, who has been groomed by the far-left activist group Momentum to be the heir apparent to Jeremy Corbyn, has called on the other candidates in the leadership race to back the socialist position of nationalising utilities in the United Kingdom.

In January, she said: “We need a proud socialist to lead the Labour Party, driven by their principles and an unwavering determination to see democratic socialism in our lifetime.”

The Member of Parliament for Salford and Eccles has recently become embroiled in a scandal after she described a constituent who suffers from brain damage as a “practical vegetable“, which she later claimed was a “mistake”.

Membership voting in the leadership race will begin on February 21st and will close on April 2nd, with an announcement of the next leader on April 4th.

Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka

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