BOLTON'S Labour MPs say they will continue to support the party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

The town's Labour MPs, as well as council bosses, had been backing Leigh MP Andy Burnham in the Labour leadership race.

Mr Burnham was originally the favourite to win today's election but instead veteran left-wing MP Jeremy Corbyn won with a landslide majority vote.

Despite backing Mr Burnham's leadership campaign, Bolton MPs believe the future of the party is in safe hands.

David Crausby, MP for Bolton North East, did not support Mr Corbyn for the job of leadership but believes the party has a future if it remains united.

"I would have preferred Andy Burnham to be elected leader and believe we had a chance with him," he said.

"There always a future for the party, it's a democratic institution. The elected leader is not the boss of the part, it's for the party to decide what the policies are and for the leader to carry them out.

"I've been in the Labour party pretty much my whole adult life and these kinds of things come and go. I will continue to support it anyway I can."

MP for Bolton South, Yasmin Qureshi, was quick to show her support for Mr Corbyn, praising his speech given following the announcement of the leadership election results at the QEII conference centre in Westminster this morning.

She said: "Jeremy Corbyn has a very distinct and clear vision of what he wants for the country and I agree with everything he said.

"There is inequality in our country and he is going to talk about it.

"I knew Andy, and knew the most about him, and that's why I nominated him.

"For me whoever won I would have been happy to support them and campaign with them because they are all intelligent, good, articulate people." 

However, Cllr Nick Peel, executive cabinet member for the environment, is cautious about the impact on the party by such a divisive figure as Mr Corbyn.

He said: "I voted for Andy Burnham because i thought he was the best person to lead the Labour Party and win the general election.

"The challenge for Jeremy Corbyn now is that he needs to unite all parts of the party.

"He is our leader and we must all get behind this result."

Mr Corbyn won the leadership election with 59.5 per cent of more than 400,000 votes cast, while Mr Burnham was his closest rival with 19 per cent of the vote.