Labour leadership: Starmer gets backing of key trade union in race to replace Corbyn
Unison, the UK's largest union, says he will "bring the party together" and "win back the trust" of former Labour voters.
Thursday 9 January 2020 07:09, UK
Sir Keir Starmer has secured the backing of a key trade union in his bid to become Labour leader.
Unison, the UK's largest union, said the shadow Brexit secretary would "bring the party together" and "win back the trust" of voters who abandoned Labour in the general election.
General secretary Dave Prentis said: "Keir has a clear vision to get Labour back to the winning ways of the past.
"He is best placed to take on Boris Johnson, hold his government to account and ensure Labour can return to power and once more change working people's lives for the better."
Speaking to Sky News, Sir Keir said: "We are at the very very early stages of the race and there are other excellent candidates in this race.
"We had the first hustings last night, all six of us up there and I was really pleased to be up there alongside good colleagues making their case in a very constructive way. I want that to be the way we run this campaign."
Addressing his trade union nomination, and the factions within the Labour movement, he said: "I have been working with the trade union movement for many years and in recent years on Brexit and many other issues, I shall continue to work in that way.
"Of course there are differences, we wouldn't be a party of 500,000 people if we didn't have differences, but I genuinely believe if we put factions on one side and draw together we are so much stronger for it."
Unison's decision came after it was revealed that Sir Keir has enough support among Labour MPs to enter the second stage of the leadership contest to replace Jeremy Corbyn.
The shadow Brexit secretary, who has come out top in early polling, has a total of 24 nominations from his parliamentary colleagues.
The other candidates are, at this stage, some way behind.
Rebecca Long-Bailey is second with seven nominations, followed by Jess Phillips (six), Lisa Nandy (two), Emily Thornberry (one) and Clive Lewis (zero).
Candidates need the backing of 10% of Labour MPs and MEPs - a total of 212, making the threshold 22.
Nominations close next Monday (13 January) and the winner will be declared at the start of April.
Wednesday also saw the first hustings in the race to become the party's next deputy leader and replace Tom Watson.
Angela Rayner, Ian Murray, Richard Burgon, Dawn Butler, Rosena Allin-Khan and Khalid Mahmood are all standing for the role.