ANDY Burnham has taken his campaign for the Labour leadership to party members in York - as polls and bookies suggested he was set to lose to veteran leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn.

The shadow health secretary won strong words of support from York Central MP Rachael Maskell before he addressed more than 100 Labour supporters at a lunchtime meeting held today at Clements Hall in Nunthorpe Road.

She said he had the 'honesty and integrity' needed for the job and for the future of the party and country.

Private polling seen by the Daily Mirror has suggested Mr Burnham is in third place in the leadership race, behind both Mr Corbyn and Yvette Cooper, and bookmakers have cut the price for Mr Corbyn to become the next Labour leader.

Mr Burnham told interviewers he had been ahead of both his opponents in other polls and told his audience that he understood why Mr Corbyn was winning support, because the Labour party had become too timid and he had presented some 'big ideas.'

However, Labour had to have economic credibility if it was to regain power, rather than become a party of opposition, and unity was vital.

He said that on the 70th birthday of the election of the Attlee government, the question was: would the modern Labour Party have founded the NHS?

He said: "I never take any pleasure in running down the Labour party but ...I don't think we would."

He said it was essential for Labour to be a 'proper opposition' to the Tory Government and for the style of politics, with its Westminster bubble and soundbites, to change, and big ideas were needed to re-create the spirit of 1945.

"The Labour Party needs to think big and dare to dream," he said.

Members quizzed him on a range of issues, including the renewal of Trident, airstrikes in Syria and his stance in the recent changes in welfare provision.

Later, he met five-month-old Cora Jones from York, who was wearing a T-shirt bearing the message: "Leader of the House."