General election 2019: Kinnock calls for next Labour leader to be a woman

16 December 2019

The next leader of the Labour party should be a woman, re-elected Labour MP Stephen Kinnock has said.

"Colleagues such as Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips have a great story to tell," he told BBC Radio Wales.

The general election saw Labour lose 59 seats, including six in Wales.

Jeremy Corbyn is to remain in post until a new leader is chosen. Former Labour minister Kim Howells said that was "insane".

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Claire Summers, the MP for Aberavon Mr Kinnock ruled himself out of the running.

He added: "I think there are some brilliant women in our team who have been re-elected, and I think the next leader should be a woman."

Jeremy Corbyn vowed to stay on during a "process" of reflection for Labour

The critic of Jeremy Corbyn said it would have been better for the leader to "to stand aside immediately, and for an interim leader to be put in place, just to see us through the process of electing a new leader".

"I think we also have to be clear that this is not just about one person; it is about the ideology of the hard left, which has now been utterly rejected by the British people."

Boris Johnson returned 365 seats - gaining 66 seats across the UK including in seats that have never been anything other than Labour.

On the morning of his defeat Mr Corbyn announced he would not lead the party in any future general election campaign.

He promised a "process... of reflection" on the result and the party's policies. "I will lead the party during that period to ensure that discussion takes place," he said.

Former Pontypridd MP and a minister during Tony Blair's years as prime minister, Kim Howells, attacked Mr Corbyn's decision to stay on.

"The idea that he's going to be there now until April, at every Prime Ministers Questions when he's been rejected more firmly and more dramatically than any Labour leader since Michael Foot is just insane," he said.

"It's an indication of the smug, sanctimonious, deluded and middle class London group of MPs who run the Labour party and ruined it."