Labour leadership race: Andy Burnham gets northern support while London backs Liz Kendall
The Labour leadership race is revealing geographical splits in the party as northern MPs back Andy Burnham – while London supports the female candidates.
Some 56 per cent of Labour's northern MPs who have declared support for a candidate have backed Burnham. His northern support stands in contrast to Liz Kendall, who enjoys the backing of the most London MPs.
Of the MPs who have publicly supported Burnham 54 per cent have constituencies in north west England. A further 21 per cent of his backers are from north east England.
The MP for Leigh is currently favourite to succeed Ed Miliband, with odds of 4/5 and the backing of the most MPs.
This is in contrast to Kendall and Mary Creagh who, respectively, enjoy 30 and 40 per cent of their support from London MPs.
Of the 10 London MPs to have declared public support for a candidate, six have supported Kendall, the MP for Leicester West. Two have declared for both Yvette Cooper and Creagh. No London MP has yet declared for Burnham.
Cooper has the most even spread of support across the regions. The West Midlands is the region from which she currently enjoys the most support, with 23.5 per cent of her backing coming from its MPs.
Many Labour MPs are still to declare, with leadership candidates needing the support of 35 to appear on the ballot paper to succeed Ed Miliband as leader.