Jeremy Corbyn will face only one challenger for the Labour leadership, former shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith, after Angela Eagle withdrew from the contest.
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Ms Eagle, a former Shadow Business Secretary, made a decision to step aside after it became clear that Mr Smith had more support among Labour MPs.
“In my years here in this house I’ve long heard the Labour Party asking what the Conservative Party does for women, well it just keeps making us prime minister!”, she said, as her husband Philip looked on from the public gallery.
The group is hoping to persuade local Labour branches to offer their support for the rebel leader who recently lost a vote of no confidence from fellow Mps, despite achieving an overwhelming mandate from members.
“So I am announcing tonight that I will be supporting Owen in that endeavour with all my enthusiasm and might”.
Asked whether she had done a deal with Mr Smith, she said the two would be “in lockstep” from now on seeking to forge a “strong and united” opposition which “could do its job” under a leader which could “heal” the party.
“As we look towards the local government elections and the next United Kingdom general election, we have to do all we can to strengthen our party, reach out to communities all across Scotland and speak to the vast majority of working people who need a Labour government in Scotland and across the UK”.
They are offering odds of 4/11 on Mr Corbyn staying on as leader, and 2/1 on Owen Smith taking over.
“The Labour Party is not going to split”, he said. “I grew up swaddled in stories of the Labour Party creating the NHS”, he told the BBC.
Meanwhile, the Saving Labour campaign urged those opposed to Mr Corbyn’s leadership to sign up as registered supporters, saying: “Britain and Labour needs new, strong leadership for the months ahead”. The country has to look at us and say: ‘We can imagine these people running this country and doing so better than the Conservatives’.
The poll indicated that Mr Corbyn’s margin of victory may be slightly narrower if just Mr Smith stood against him – 56% for Mr Corbyn and 34% for Mr Smith – but the result would still be a convincing victory for the incumbent. The opposition leader gets six questions and other lawmakers are picked from a ballot.
Ian Murray MP has been appointed as Scottish Labour’s Westminster spokesman after resigning from Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
The Birmingham Yardley MP told Channel 4 News she would find it “incredibly difficult” to continue as a Labour MP if Mr Corbyn won.
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Meanwhile Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson revealed Unite union boss Len McCluskey blocked attempts to convince Mr Corbyn to quit.
