LABOUR MP for Wigan Lisa Nandy has begun positioning herself as a strong, northern leader of the party who can be a force for change.
The Manchester born and raised MP said over the weekend she was “seriously considering” running as leader to help rebuild the Labour party that let down constituents in northern leave-backing seats such as Wigan.
Ms Nandy was one of the few Labour MPs in the north of the country to retain her seat with a majority of 6,700 votes.
She suffered a 15.5 per cent swing against her as the Brexit Party scooped up an extra 13 per cent of the vote.
The MP voted to remain in the EU, but told the BBC she would make it her mission to “bring Labour back to (the people)”
She said she would to learn the lessons from the election about the trust that had been broken between the Labour party and voters across the country.
In her victory speech as she won her constituency, she said:
“I have listened and I have heard you and I will make it my mission from this day forward, to bring the Labour party home to you”.
She placed herself as a leader who would take the concentration of power in the Labour party away from Central London and back to regional areas.
“There is no reason why decision making is concentrated in Central London… our regional offices need to be more empowered to make more decisions,” she said.
Ms Nandy, 40, has already been given support from Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and one-time deputy leadership contender Jon Cruddas who have both joined her campaign team.
Ms Nandy has also reportedly approached Unite, GMB, CWU and other unions to secure their backing for leadership bid.
Ms Nandy served in the shadow cabinet between 2015-2016 and worked in several charities before going into politics.
Her first gig in the Labour party was as a councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham, before she was selection for Wigan in the 2010 General Election.
Rebecca Long-Bailey is running for leader of the Labour Party
Ms Nandy had her moment in the spotlight in 2017 when she said she warned Theresa May the Tory whips office was withholding allegations of sexual harassment to blackmail MPs into doing their bidding.
She said she contacted the Mrs May three times when she was Home Secretary in 2015 about taking action, and every single time she failed to do anything.
She said the Labour party needs wholesale reform in order to rebuild the trust of the people they failed to win over in the election.
Ms Nandy is a relative unknown in comparison to some of the other candidates for Labour leader such as shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry or shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey.
