Next Labour Leader Odds: Burnham backed after Tories win Hartlepool

Andy Burnham is the favourite to succeed Keir Starmer as the next Labour leader after the party suffered an historic defeat in the Hartlepool by-election.

The Conservatives won the seat, which had been Labour since 1964, by around 7,000 votes with a 16% swing from Labour to the Tories.

It is rare for a party of government to take a seat from the opposition.

The result comes as a blow to Labour leader Keir Starmer's efforts to win back support in the party's traditional heartlands.

The odds on the Conservatives winning the next election narrowed to 2.245/4.

Just 13 months after Starmer succeeded Jeremy Corbyn there is already speculation about who could be the party's next leader.

In the last 24 hours 90% of bets placed in the Next Labour leader market were on Burnham 6.611/2.

The Mayor of Manchester twice stood for the party leadership - in 2010 and 2015 - before leaving Westminster.

But he has been a staunch critic of the government during the Covid-19 pandemic and has attracted support from across the divided party.

Deputy leader Angela Rayner comes next in the betting at 7.87/1 but in the past day 6% of bets were for David Miliband 44.043/1 while Rebecca Long Bailey 4.1 and Lisa Nandy 7.26/1 both received 2%.

The latter pair were both defeated by Starmer in the leadership election while Miliband was famously overcome by his brother Ed in 2010.

These are grim times for Labour and it's likely to get worse as the result from council elections and the Scottish parliament elections come in over the next few days.

I'll provide an update on the latest UK politics betting on Sunday.