Rayner achieved sufficient support from affiliates to qualify for the final ballot on 20 January, at which point she also had the greatest number of nominations from CLPs.

Tom Watson resigned as deputy leader of the Labour Party and as an MP in November 2019 ahead of the 2019 general election.

For example, members of Labour-affiliated trade unions needed to register as affiliated Labour supporters to vote.

[3] Dawn Butler, the shadow equalities secretary, announced on 7 November 2019 that she would stand to be deputy leader.

The shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon announced that he would stand on 31 December 2019 with an article in Tribune.

[10] The five remaining deputy leadership candidates achieved the requisite 22 MP/MEP nominations by the 13 January deadline and proceeded to the next stage of the contest.

The announcement was originally due to take place at a special conference in London, but because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic it was cancelled in favour of a "scaled-back event".