UK Shadow Business Secretary Announces Labour Party Leadership Bid

On May 8, Miliband said he was stepping down after his party lost the 2015 general election in the United Kingdom.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Chuka Umunna, a British Labour Party politician and the current Shadow Business Secretary, announced on Tuesday that he is running for the Labour leadership, following the resignation of the party’s former head, Ed Miliband.

“I am pleased to announce that I will be standing for the leadership of the party. I think we can and we should be winning in seats like Swindon. North, south, east and west – we can absolutely do it as a party,” Umunna said in a video posted on his Facebook page.

North, South, East, West — Labour can and must win in 2020. — C

Posted by Chuka Umunna on Tuesday, May 12, 2015

He also vowed to get the Labour party back into office during the next elections in 2020, according to the video.

Ummuna is now expected to compete for the party’s leadership with Elizabeth Kendall, the Shadow Care and Older People Secretary, Andy Burnham, the Shadow Health Secretary, Tristram Hunt, the Shadow Education Secretary, and Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary.

Labour garnered only 232 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, the lower house of British parliament, at the May 7 general election, while the party’s main rival, the Conservatives, won 331 seats, securing a majority government.