A committee in the United Kingdom’s Labour party has decided that leader Jeremy Corbyn has the right to automatically appear on a ballot for a new leadership vote, amid efforts by Labour legislators to oust him.
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Support for the leader was still high among those who has backed him originally: “The party members who like him think he has done an excellent job”.
Labour members need to have signed up on or before January 12 this year to be eligible to vote in the new election.
He said the leadership campaign, in which he would fight “on all the things that matter”, from inequality and poverty to improving opportunities, would strengthen Labor.
Mr Smith, who joined the race to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the party leadership on Wednesday, said either he or fellow challenger Angela Eagle should stand aside, depending on support, to give a unity candidate a free run at the leader. However, centrists believe his left-wing policies do not appeal to the electorate.
Labour is engulfed in a bitter internal power struggle between Mr Corbyn’s supporters in the grassroots membership and the party’s lawmakers, who overwhelmingly rejected his leadership after last month’s Brexit.
To compound matters for the party, only 23% think the current leader has what it takes to be prime minister, with even less (21%) agreeing Ms Eagle would make a good PM.
Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) ruled on Monday night that formal constituency meetings should be suspended for the duration of the leadership contest, which is due to end on September 24.
However, the former solicitor has now had a change of heart and told supporters she will back Mr Smith in the leadership contest.
Committee says United Kingdom opposition head, who now faces a crisis in his party, has right to appear on leadership ballot.
Meanwhile, Labour’s leadership battle and inevitable split splashed on the front pages of British newspapers on July 13.
Earlier this week, veteran Labour MP and shadow Welsh secretary Paul Flynn said it would be “very difficult” for Mr Corbyn to “find a way out”.
“We fully expect Jeremy to win the national vote and then, expect the rest of the Parliamentary Party to lend him their full support that he deserves”. He has got the principles but unfortunately the party seems quite prepared to split.
Around 40 members of the Jeremy Corbyn group met at the City Gate on Tuesday evening. “It’s not enough just to talk about being anti-austerity, Labour needs to set out the details of how we overcome Tory austerity and secure the next Labour government that delivers investments, not cuts”.
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“We have low wages and a housing crisis, young people find it next to impossible to get a decent place to live”.
