A LEADING Labour figure in York has called for a change in the rules on party leadership elections as ballot papers go out across the country.

Labour supporters in York and across the country will receive postal ballot papers over the coming days, in the race to become the party's next leader.

National polls put left winger Jeremy Corbyn in the lead, ahead of Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, and party insiders in York say the voting split in the city looks likely to follow that pattern.

But, as the September 10 voting deadline approaches, the party's leader on City of York Council has said people who have joined within the last year should not have been given the chance to vote.

Cllr Dafydd Williams said: "In lower selections in the party - for council candidates of the Parliamentary candidate - you have to have been a full member for 12 months to be able to vote. That seems to me a reasonable test of someone's support and loyalty."

York's party has seen its membership surge by several hundred since the election - around a third.

Cllr Williams added: "People who genuinely join up are incredibly welcome, but I am genuinely worried about people who only have to pay £3 and fill in a very loose form to qualify. I know of people who are opponents of Labour signing up to exploit the system."

Cllr Williams has voiced his support for Yvette Cooper in the leadership race, warning that in his eyes Mr Corbyn's lack of appeal to the wider electorate would seriously hurt the party - like the succession of unpopular Tory leaders in the 1990s and early 2000s hurt the Conservatives.

"Of all the candidates standing, the one who is the best potential Prime Minister is Yvette Cooper."

It is a view York Central MP Rachael Maskell disagrees with. Although Andy Burnham has her support, she said she will give her second preference vote to Mr Corbyn.

She said Mr Burnham had shown "leadership qualities" in the campaign, and she praised his vision for bringing the railways back into public ownership, and for a national care service, but said that she would be able to stand by and work with a Corbyn leadership.