New Yardley MP backs Yvette Cooper for Labour leadership

Shadow Home Secretary returns to Sheldon primary school on day she announces her bid to succeed Ed Miliband as Labour leader

Birmingham's newest MP has wasted little time in backing Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper for the Labour leadership.

Less than a week after becoming Yardley MP Jess Phillips welcomed Ms Cooper to Stanville School in Sheldon, a place they both visited last month on the campaign trail.

Ms Phillips said that they share common policy interests. "I stand very much for equality for women and dealing with domestic violence. Yvette is a strong woman candidate who cares about the thing I care about."

Jess Phillips is a manager for Sandwell Women's Aid, dealing with the effects of domestic abuse, and has also campaigned for victims of crime.

During the visit Ms Cooper, who hopes to succeed Ed Miliband as party leader, says Labour has to discover why it was so popular in Birmingham and big cities but failed to capture the imagination of voters elsewhere - in market towns and counties.

In Birmingham the Labour vote was up and it even gained the Yardley seat from the Lib Dems, but failed to win targets nearby such as North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Halesowen and Rowley Regis.

But she rejects the idea that the party was either too left wing, or not left wing enough as many former ministers and some of her rivals have stated.

"It is not about left and right, we lost votes to UKIP in some areas, vote to the SNP in others and failed to win back voters from the Tories and Lib Dems. There’s a mix of reasons for this.

"But I think a problem was we did not meet people’s ambitions for the future. We had good policies on zero hours contracts and minimum wage, but not enough for those in steady permanent work. Nothing about moving up the career ladder, the housing ladder, getting that next job .

"We also needed a far more positive message to counter the fear generated by the Tories and UKIP."

Ms Cooper has also rejected claims that the last Labour government spent too much in the run-up to the financial crash.

Treasury chief secretary when the crisis struck in 2008, she acknowledged the party did not always spend public money "wisely" during its time in office.

She said: "The deficit at the time was something like 0.6 per cent (of GDP) - the current deficit. All the political parties at the time were all supporting the spending plans and that was all due to come down.

She said the real issue was unsecured private lending by banks all over the world and that Labour should have been tougher with the banks.

Also in the race to become Labour leader are MPs Chuka Ummuna, Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham.