Lucy Powell looks to be heading for a straight showdown with a former cabinet colleague for the role of Labour's deputy leader.

The role became vacant following Angela Rayner's resignation last week, with party members set to vote for the Ashton-under-Lyne MP's replacement.

Candidates now have less than 10 hours to secure enough nominations to reach the next stage of the deputy leadership contest .

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson became the first candidate to secure her place in the next round of the contest after picking up 116 nominations by 7pm last night (September 10).

Sign up to the MEN Politics newsletter Due North here

That figure was comfortably above the 80 mark that candidates need to get through to the next round.

Ms Powell, MP for Manchester Central ,

See Full Page