The former shadow justice secretary and Labour peer told BBC News it was for the party and not the courts to decide what the precise rules should be for a Labour Party leadership challenge.
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Britain’s opposition Labour Party has the right to prevent tens of thousands of new members from voting in the party’s leadership contest, Britain’s Court of Appeal ruled Friday.
Lawyers for the five – Christine Evangelou, the Rev Edward Leir, Hannah Fordham, Chris Granger and “FM”, a teenage member – had argued that the NEC had no power to retrospectively freeze a full member’s ability to vote.
It effectively reintroduced the voting ban on almost 130,000 members.
The decision is expected to benefit challenger Owen Smith, since numerous new members were thought to have signed up in support of Corbyn.
In a statement the members said: “This has been an odd, emotional-rollercoaster of a week for all of us”.
Ballot papers for the Labour leadership contest are due to be delivered later this month, and the result is set to be announced on September 24.
Former Camden Council leader Dame Jane Roberts also said her piece – again, in Smith’s favour – while current council leader Sarah Hayward tweeted her support for Smith during the meeting – all to no avail with the Corbyn faithful in attendance.
“And that is exactly what is happening in the Labour Party at the present time”.
The high court of the United Kingdom had previously ruled in favour of five new Labour members who had sued the party in order to allow new members to vote for party leadership. 600,000 plus members in the Labour Party are voting, and I am just going to keep on doing what I am doing.
Both supporters and opponents of Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had encouraged new members to join the party and vote in the election.
As Mr Corbyn’s team analyse what the ruling means for his leadership bid, the leader will say: “We are using this leadership contest to demonstrate the new and innovative methods the Labour Party will use to run our general election campaign in order to win back seats like Milton Keynes North and South”.
Unison, who were in attendance at the rally, back Corbyn to continue as the leader of the Labour party. McNicol, not the most active twitter user, had no comment regarding the ruling on his account.
They are certain Corbyn could never be PM and appear to try various methods to stop him, however Corbyn’s core support is huge and will fight for his leadership all the way through the hustings process and onto the date for the leadership decision. He added, “What we have done is consistent with the rules framework, but even if it were not, the NEC still has the power to go against the rules framework”. David Goldstone QC, the barrister representing the five members, while contending that if the NEC’s decision stood, it would be “dangerous” and allow “scope for abuse”, denied the case was about “politics”.
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In an interview with the Observer, the Labour leader said of Mr Watson: “I read about his letter to me in the media”.
