Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey has said she is considering running to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
Long-Bailey was installed as favourite to replace Corbyn soon after the election disaster, with the MP for Eccles likely to get support from the left of the party.
She had yet to confirm her ambitions but on Sunday night said she was “considering standing to be leader”
Long-Bailey also said she was supporting shadow education secretary Angela Rayner as deputy.
HuffPost UK reported earlier this month that Rayner was poised to run for deputy and support Long-Bailey to succeed Corbyn.
It was one of the most significant developments in the race, with Rayner opting not to stand for the top job herself.
Writing in the Guardian, Long-Bailey said: “We can win again, but first our party must come together. We are strongest when we stand together as a pluralist Labour family.
“That is why I’m not only considering standing to be leader, but also supporting Angela Rayner as deputy.
“Leadership means leading a team, working with every part of our movement and using all our party’s talents to fight the Conservatives at every turn and map Labour’s route back to power.”
Earlier, Labour party chairman Ian Lavery was said to be “seriously considering” running to become the party’s new leader.
Lavery is a former general secretary of the National Union of Miners and is also seen as on the left of the party.
The contest to succeed Corbyn has yet to officially start but a number of other candidates are expected to declare in the coming weeks.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry and Clive Lewis, the shadow Treasury minister, have both declared they will run.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, Wigan MP Lisa Nandy and arch-Remainer and Tottenham MP David Lammy have all expressed interest.