LABOUR’S next leader must have the political courage to speak out against austerity and defend public services, a group of the party’s new MPs are demanding.

Ten of Labour’s rising parliamentary stars have laid down the challenge to leadership contenders in an open letter published in today’s Star.

It calls for a leader who “will challenge an agenda of cuts, take on the powerful vested interests of big business and will set out an alternative to austerity — not one who will draw back to the ‘New Labour’ creed of the past.”