Liz Kendall: I can still win Labour leadership race

Labour leadership contender Liz Kendall: "This is not a choice between principle and power"

Labour leadership hopeful Liz Kendall says she can win the contest, despite coming last in a recent YouGov poll.

Only she and left-winger Jeremy Corbyn offered "an alternative" to Labour of the last five or eight years, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

She refused to make any recommendation to Labour members for a second preference vote, saying she would "fight to the end" to lead the party.

She has dismissed calls to pull out and back Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper.

'Only alternative'

She said: "I do believe I can win. This is not a choice between principle and power, we can have both."

"I think I'm the only candidate apart from Jeremy Corbyn setting out an alternative to what Labour was offering five or eight years ago."

She said ordinary Labour members were "desperate to win, get the Tories out, and make changes" on issues such as low pay and economic inequality.

With 50 days left in the leadership race, she said: "I'm making that case, and I'm going to do that until the end."

Labour leadership contest

Liz Kendall has been urged to back Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper to defeat Jeremy Corbyn

• Who are the candidates? Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn, Liz Kendall

• Dates: Ballot papers will be sent out on 14 August; voting can take place by post or online. They must be returned by 10 September. The result is on 12 September.

• Who can vote? All party members, registered supporters and affiliated supporters - including those joining via a union - get a vote

• What is the voting system? The Alternative Vote system is being used so voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference

• How does it work? If no candidate gets 50% of all votes cast, the candidate in fourth place is eliminated. Their second preference votes are then redistributed among the remaining three. If no-one has still not got 50% of votes the third place candidate is eliminated with their second preferences (or third in the case of votes transferred from the fourth place candidates) redistributed. It is then a straight head-to-head between the last two candidates with the one having the most votes winning.

At-a-glance profiles of the four contenders

There had been some pressure on Ms Kendall to withdraw and back another candidate in order to defeat Jeremy Corbyn after the publication of the YouGov poll for the Times.

It suggested Mr Corbyn could receive 43% of first preference votes, ahead of Mr Burnham on 26%, Ms Cooper on 20% and Ms Kendall on 11%,.

But the Leicester West MP rejected the idea that she should pull out - with her aides accusing Andy Burnham's and Yvette Cooper's camps of "fuelling" the idea to distract from "their own issues".

The four leadership candidates, and five deputy leadership candidates, will take part in a Labour Party hustings in Warrington later.

Labour is due to announce its new leader at a special conference on 12 September.