LABOUR’S leadership hopefuls were today attempting to woo hundreds of party activists as the battle to replace Gordon Brown comes to Southampton.

A hustings event, held at the De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel in the city, saw members from across the South come face to face with the five contenders as they slug it out for votes.

Diane Abbott, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, David Miliband and Ed Miliband, who were confirmed as candidates several weeks ago, have already taken part in a series of televised and live debates around the UK.

At today’s event each potential leader will set out their vision for the party and the country before taking questions from members.

The leadership election was triggered in May when former prime minister Gordon Brown resigned after the Tories and Liberal Democrats stitched together a coalition Government.

Since then, Labour has been led in opposition on a temporary basis by deputy leader Harriet Harman.

The new leader will be chosen by an electoral college system made up of three sections – Labour MPs and MEPs, party members and members of affiliated unions and other organisations – with the result from each segment making up a third of the final result. The winner will be announced on September 25, the first day of the party’s annual conference, in Manchester.

Diane Abbott

THE first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons, back in 1987, and the only leadership candidate to campaign against the Iraq war, Diane Abbott was considered an old-school lefty until she shocked party colleagues by sending her son to a private school. Her profile was boosted by a regular spot on political show This Week. Abbott’s liberal immigration policy and civil liberties agenda set her apart from the other four candidates but she remains the underdog.

Ed Balls

MOVE over Gordon Brown, there is a new clunking fist in town.

Balls is fast-becoming Labour’s dangerous attack dog, tearing chunks out of Education Secretary Michael Gove for cancelling Southampton’s school building projects. Big on economic policy and duffing up the Tories, Brown’s former Treasury adviser – a keen defender of the Big State – is considered less effective when it comes to the politics of presentation.

Andy Burnham

KEEN to paint himself as the working class, antielite, anti-London candidate, Scouser Andy Burnham believes his plan for a National Care Service, to provide financial security for older people faced with going into a care home, will be a vote-winner in the affluent South. The former health secretary – and vocal Everton FC supporter – claims to be “utterly and totally persuaded’’ by the benefits of water fluoridation. Backed by New Forest East constituency Labour party.

David Milliband

UNFAIRLYcaricatured as Tony Blair’s mini-me, the older Miliband brother has a sharp political brain all of his own. Unfortunately for his leadership ambitions, he also voted for the invasion of Iraq, and as former foreign secretary may face uncomfortable questions from the Gibson inquiry over the UK’s alleged complicity in the torture of terror suspects. Backed by Hampshire Euro MP Peter Skinner, D Miliband is still favourite to win, but it’s not in the bag.

Ed Milliband

THE other Ed and the other Miliband has secured the support of Southampton Labour MPs Alan Whitehead and John Denham, the latter joining his campaign as policy supremo, as well as the Isle of Wight constituency party.

The former energy secretary, whose centre-left radicalism has excited grassroots activists, may be less experienced than his elder brother, but his plan to replace university tuition fees with a graduate tax will find favour with many young Labour members.