Mary Creagh drops out of Labour leadership contest

Mary Creagh has announced she is withdrawing from the Labour leadership contest. The shadow international development secretary has explained in tomorrow’s Guardian that she is quitting the race but won’t be backing another candidate. Given that Creagh had just seven MPs openly backing her — with only a rumoured handful still in the shadows — it was increasingly clear over the last week that she wouldn’t get the 35 names she needs to get on the ballot paper.

Creagh has used her spot in the Guardian to attack Ed Miliband’s leadership. She says Labour was too anti-business under him and that this approach must be reversed if the party is to have any chance of making it back into power. Creagh cites an incident during her tenure as shadow transport secretary, when Labour proposed devolving control of bus routes to local authorities:

‘I had good relationships with the five big bus companies, so we rang round to brief them as a courtesy. At Manchester town hall I explained that my team had done this and I was asked why.