Labour leadership: Rebecca Long-Bailey confirms her name is hyphenated

‘We’re all girls in our family so there was no one to kind of carry on the name,’ says shadow business secretary

Labour leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey has confirmed her surname is hyphenated.

The shadow business secretary has cleared up the confusion over her last name, which appears as Long-Bailey in her Twitter profile, but without the hyphen on her UK Parliament page.

She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “There actually is a hyphen – but I’m not bothered, I mean, I was Rebecca Long before I got married and I thought it was a really good idea to keep the ‘Long’ because I was quite proud.”

She added: “We’re all girls in our family so there was no one to kind of carry on the name, so I wanted to add the Bailey on, not to upset the husband – to make him feel like he was part of it all.

“So I’m not bothered if people put a hyphen in or not, it doesn’t bother me as long as the Long’s there and the Bailey’s there.”

In the same interview, the MP for Salford and Eccles said she would abolish the House of Lords if she became prime minister.

She also plans to “really shake up” the package of constitutional measures if she wins the contest to succeed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

On Saturday, Ms Long-Bailey, who has long been seen as the favourite of the Labour left, secured the backing of the grassroots Momentum group.

She indicated she would not stand in the way of a fresh referendum on Scottish independence if she succeeded in becoming prime minister.

Ms Long-Bailey said she would work “very hard and very robustly” to tackle anti-Semitism in the party and she was unhappy at the way the issue had been dealt with.

“I don’t think we were dealing with complaints quickly enough and I think that’s quite clear, I’ve been quite vocal about that,” she said.

Asked if Mr Corbyn bore personal responsibility, she said: “He does and he’s apologised.

“I think any Labour politician that leads the Labour Party should apologise again for what has happened because it has been unacceptable.”

Additional reporting by Press Association.