Yvette Cooper ‘disappointed’ not to win Labour leadership contest

Mr Corbyn was announced as the party’s new leader at a special conference on Saturday after more than 250,000 people voted for him.

He took 59.5 percent of the vote – against 19 percent for Mr Burnham, 17 percent for Ms Cooper and 4.5 per cent for Liz Kendall.

Ms Cooper said: “I am obviously disappointed not to win but I congratulate Jeremy on his victory.

“He had a very clear win so fair play to him. I would like to thank all those that showed me such strong support particularly in our area.”

Following the result Ms Cooper ruled herself out of serving in the new shadow cabinet.

She will instead be the chairman of a new Labour taskforce on refugees.

Ms Cooper said: “We know we have the biggest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War and people were really upset by some of the images.

“It’s moved a lot of people and there’s a lot of support from people who want to help.

“I’ll be looking at what all European countries are doing to try and address the crisis.

“I’ll be working with charities, faith groups and other countries to ensure we are doing everything we can.”

Ms Cooper said she was also looking forward to spending more time in her constituency now the leadership campaign is over.

She said: “I have been having to campaign all over the country as part of the leadership contest which has involved an awful lot of travelling.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back out in my constituency and speaking to people.

“I think we have just had four months of only speaking to the Labour party and we need to work hard to win back people’s support to make sure we can win the next election.”

Ms Cooper said she would continue to fight for more “badly needed” jobs and apprenticeships in the area.