New Labour was declared dead yesterday after a poll showed support for socialist policies in the next generation of would-be MPs.

A majority of 73 prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) surveyed by ComRes support progressive ideas which were frozen out of Labour’s manifesto under Tony Blair.

Renationalising the railways, scrapping Trident and raising taxes were all backed by the general election candidates.

And not one wants to weaken Labour’s trade union links.

Seventy one per cent believe the relationship is “about right” — but 29 per cent think it’s “not close enough.”

And Class think tank chairman Tim Roache said the poll will prove that “when politicians back policies that improve the lives of working people, they succeed at the ballot box.”

The results were revealed during a live recording of the BBC’s Sunday Politics show at Labour’s Manchester conference.

Presenter Andrew Neil said: “It’s pretty safe to say when you look at their views that new Labour is dead.”

Pressed by Mr Neil on whether he agreed, shadow business minister Chuka Umunna insisted “this is not a representative survey.”

Mr Umunna, who is backed by Blairite think tank Progress, added: “I don’t think people see things in terms of old and new Labour as they did in times passed.”

A stunning 81 per cent of aspiring Labour MPs support ending Britain’s rail franchise farce and bringing them back under public ownership.

Sharon Taylor is standing for Labour in Stevenage, which is served by the publicly owned East Coast Main Line.

She told the Star: “It’s delivering money to the Treasury and a better service for users.

“If we were able to use that example and run other lines as well as East Coast then why wouldn’t you do that?”

Forty one per cent of candidates favoured raising taxes to reduce national debt compared to 18 per cent who proposed continuing with Con-Dem cuts.

A majority of 51 per cent also supported scrapping Trident.

A CND spokesman said it showed “Labour are waking up to the fact scrapping Trident is a vote winner.”

He said: “When people see the NHS being stripped bare they know it doesn’t make sense to spend £100 billion on a cold war relic that we could never use.”