Jeremy Corbyn will pledge a mass expansion of new council homes and free universal childcare when he lays out his leadership manifesto today.
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Corbyn is the favourite to win the contest against Owen Smith.
The town’s TUSC spokesman and former Fairfield and Howley councillor Kevin Bennett praised Mr Corbyn for outlining policies to tackle capitalism, poverty, homelessness and workplace exploitation to the crowd.
If the party does split, Mr Corbyn will find himself in charge of the smaller bit, especially in Parliament, where he enjoys the support of only a small minority of Labour MPs. The Labour Party is on the verge of something spectacular.
Party members, affiliated trade union supporters and so-called registered supporters are able to vote in the election. I don’t think it’s a risk, I think it’s a likelihood.
“But in our current first-past-the-post electoral system, splitting the Labour vote this way would be disastrous for them unless their votes were strongly geographically concentrated”.
People can also be barred from taking part if they have supported a candidate from a rival party in the past.
The result of the Labour leadership election will be announced on September 24. Some on the hard left of the party like McDonnell, and some on the right of the party, are fatalistic about that. However, what seems clear is that the battle for control of the Labour party in the event of a split is about more than just the assets of the Labour party, whichever faction of the Labour party is left controlling the party name and identity will inherit a chunk of voters who are loyal to the Labour brand.
Smith said it is his “mission” to win the contest and stop any splintering of the Labour Party.
The rally will be chaired by Easington Constituency Labour Party vice chair and youth officer Darren Meadows, and will feature guest speakers, followed by a discussion open to Labour Party members and supporters. Indeed, Mr Corbyn has described himself as a socialist.
At the last election, the party lost support to UKIP in numerous areas it has always called its own, but got away with it because it was sitting on such big majorities that it still managed to win seats. “It’s a scandal. People are working for their poverty in this country, millions of them, and we can not sit by and allow this to continue”, Mr Smith said.
YouGov political and social research director Anthony Well said that hypothetically, a split could see the two parties gaining a greater share of the vote.
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Some Labour politicians, as well as Green MP Caroline Lucas, have suggested a deal at the next election in order to end the split in the left-wing vote against the Conservatives.
