Labour has chose to appeal a High Court ruling, passed down on Monday which suggested the party’s governing body had illegally barred 130,000 people from voting in the leadership election.
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After Mr Corbyn left the meeting, the panel decided that full members would not be able to vote unless they had six months’ continuous membership to 12 July, meaning anyone who had joined since January 12 was ineligible unless they paid the additional £25 “registered supporter” fee.
Labour’s national executive committee ruled that party members who joined after January 12 would not be eligible to vote.
Numerous new members who were excluded later paid £25 and signed up again as registered Labour supporters in order to vote in the leadership election.
“People joined via a website that stated that one of the benefits of membership was the ability to vote in leadership elections”.
Now, the victory of five new members – Christine Evangelou, Hannah Fordham, Rev Edward Leir, Chris Granger and a minor named only as “FM” – could open the door to the thousands who felt unfairly excluded from the contest between challenger Owen Smith and incumbent Jeremy Corbyn.
Coun Robert Sharp is the vice-chairman of the Loughborough CLP said around 100 people came to hear MR Smith outline his future vision for Labour.
The statement from the claimant post-verdict said: “This judgement is a vindication that the political process should be fair, democratic and inclusive; that political parties, like any other organisation, must uphold its rules fairly to those who support them”.
“After Labour’s National Executive Committee ruled that we weren’t allowed to vote, we took the decision to challenge its decision in court”. Most of us joined because we believe in Jeremy Corbyn, to not be given the right to vote for him to remain as leader was utterly appalling.
But the Labour leader later said that the party must “abide by” the result of the June 23 referendum.
“Yet instead of recognising the plight of millions of passengers and telling Southern Rail where to get off, the Government continues to support them with our money”.
But Labour said it would take the decision to the Court of Appeal – to the fury of socialist stalwart Corbyn’s campaign, for whom the High Court verdict was seen as a huge boost.
It comes as senior London MP David Lammy raised growing fears that Labour’s “internecine war” risked splitting the party.
“The Labour party is the greatest agent for social change this country has ever known and I have always welcomed growth of our party and wider movement”, he said.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has rejected the idea that allies of Mr Corbyn support the ruling only because it could benefit the incumbent. In reality, the party is operating in the form of two rival factions which are now more interested in defeating each other than providing credible opposition to an increasingly comfortable Tory government.
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“I am astonished at the lack of condemnation of this behaviour coming from the leader’s office”, she said.
