Sir Keir Starmer pulls ahead in Labour leadership race, new poll shows

Sir Keir Starmer is pulling ahead in the Labour leadership race, according to a new poll.

Joint research conducted this week by The Times and YouGov suggests that Sir Keir would beat Rebecca Long-Bailey 63 per cent to 37 per cent if the vote took place today.

This contrasts with a Survation poll published on Thursday which found Ms Long-Bailey would win 42 per cent of first preference votes to the shadow Brexit secretary's 37 per cent.

Voting for the new Labour leader will open on February 21 and close on April 2, with the winner announced April 4.

If all five current candidates - Sir Keir, Ms Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy, Emily Thornberry and Jess Phillips - make it through to the member’s ballot, the new poll suggests Sir Keir would already be most of the way towards claiming victory as it found he would secure 46 per cent of the vote at the first stage.

According to the poll, the first round would see Ms Thornberry drop out after getting support from only three per cent of the membership.

She would finish below Ms Nandy, seven per cent, Ms Phillips, 11 per cent, Ms Long-Bailey, 32 per cent and Sir Keir, 46 per cent.

Round two, according to the data, would see Ms Nandy drop out with just eight per cent, while Ms Phillips rises to 12 per cent, Ms Long-Bailey goes up to 33 per cent and Sir Keir tops the table again on 47 per cent.

Ms Phillips would then rise to 13 per cent, while Ms Long-Bailey would go to 37 per cent and Sir Keir would jump to 51 per cent.

The final run-off would be a formality and would finish with the 63 per cent to 37 percent figure mentioned earlier.

This was according to 1,005 Labour Party members asked between January 13 and 15.

Those polled were also asked about the deputy leader race, and Angela Rayner was runaway winner with 57 percent of support.

Richard Burgon was the nearest challenger with just 15 per cent.

The deadline to join the Labour party and be eligible to vote passed this week.

But before the ballots are handed out, the five contenders have to win the support of either five percent of Constituency parties or they can get the backing of two major trade unions and a socialist organisation linked to the party, like the Fabian Society.