Voters want Harman to be next Labour deputy leader

Voters appear to want a woman to replace John Prescott as the deputy leader of the Labour Party, after Harriet Harman emerged as the favourite in a YouGov poll of nearly 2000 voters.

Fifteen per cent said that electing Ms Harman would make them more likely to vote Labour at the next general election, beating Hilary Benn into second place on 12 per cent. No other candidates looked at in the poll got out of single figures.

Ms Harman's supporters said her lead was far larger amongswing voters and female voters.

Twenty-four per cent of voters gave Ms Harman a warm personal rating, compared with 17 per cent for Hilary Benn, 15 per cent for Alan Johnson, 13 per cent for Peter Hain, 7 per cent for Hazel Blears and 5 per cent for Jon Cruddas.

One Harman supporter said: "The only other woman who looks set to enter the race - Hazel Blears (the Labour Party chairman) - scored just 7 per cent, showing that Harriet's strong showing is not just because she is a woman, but a result of her strong personal appeal. Harriet was the only candidate ... to have a net positive appeal amongst women. For all the other candidates, more women said that if that person was elected deputy they would be less likely to vote Labour than said it would be more likely."

Many women are also undecided about the Tory leader, David Cameron, according to an Ipsos Mori poll for the Fawcett Society. It found 38 per cent of women have yet to make their mind up about Mr Cameron.