Rebecca Long-Bailey calls into Iain Dale to explain why she should be next Labour leader

7 February 2020, 09:43 | Updated: 7 February 2020, 09:46

When Rebecca from Salford called in to Iain Dale's show, he wasn't expecting it to be one of the favourites to be the next Labour leader.

Iain asked the caller who she wanted to see succeed Jeremy Corbyn, Iain was surprised to when she responded: "Me".

Ms Long-Bailey phoned in during Iain's hour-long segment with Dave Ward, the General Secretary of the Communications Workers Union, who have backed her for the leadership.

Speaking about that endorsement, she said: "It was hugely important, they're such a great union and they've been campaigning for their workers who have been undergoing a terrible time under the current government. So it's great to have their backing."

On her campaign, she then added: "One of the things that we fell down on in the General Election, aside from Brexit, it was that inability to articulate what many of our policies would do for people's lives.

"The trades unions and the workers' rights policies, it was all about improving quality of life and security for our communities. When we go into another General Election, we've got to have that message where we talk to our people and tell them that we're the party that's about raising up their aspirations."

One of the criticisms that some pundits have made of Ms Long-Bailey is that she is the Corbyn-continuity candidate, but she insisted that isn't the case.

She said: "When you're in the shadow cabinet, you're bound by collective responsibility. You always have to go out with the message that you have to go out with. Sometimes I felt like I was the only person going out with the message at times. That was part of the problem.

"Now I feel like I'm able to be myself and say what I think the country should look like."

Watch her full call at the top of the page.