Mr Corbyn denied his leadership could trigger a split, saying: ” Sorry, this is nonsense, whoever is saying my leadership is leading to a break-up of the party?
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“If Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected. there is really nothing much it can do if it isn’t going to split except for the Labour MPs just to buckle down and wait for the situation to change, maybe wait for Corbyn’s support among the Labour Party to start slipping”, he said.
However, supporters of Mr Corbyn, elected to power with a 60 per cent mandate from party members past year, insist the will of the whole party must be respected.
Another 70,000 or so trade union affiliates are expected to take part.
“The vote is now a pure one member, one vote”. With with only two candidates is a simple race for votes.
Ballot papers will be sent out from the week beginning August 22 and the deadline to vote is a month later on September 21.
However, Corbyn has argued that there is no alternative to the Labour Party in its current form, as he denied that his leadership would trigger a split.
The CWU represents 190,000 people working in the Royal Mail group, mobile companies and in BT Open Reach.
Mrs Hodgson has cited Mr Corbyn’s “lacklustre” handling of the European Union referendum campaign as a key reason for her loss of confidence in his leadership and insists he isn’t “up for the job”.
Mr Corbyn had been preceded on stage by speeches from some Liverpool Labour councillors and was then introduced by Walton MP Steve Rotheram who joked that he has tried to get Mr Corbyn to “button his shirt and straighten his tie” and praised the leader’s integrity.
Mr Corbyn laid out a series of pledges aimed at tackling “injustices” in the workplace he said had been highlighted by recent “scandals” at Sports Direct and BHS.
He said: “We should be arguing that Labour has a mandate and a right to sit alongside the Tories and negotiate”. “It’s time to end rip-off Britain and protect workers’ rights”, he said, to loud applause.
And Mr Smith demanded reform of the honours system following reports of who would be included on David Cameron’s resignation list.
Blanchflower walked away from the advisory committee in June and has now made a decision to publicly back Smith after coming to the conclusion that Corbyn is “absolutely, completely unelectable”.
Wren-Lewis also acknowledged that he wants Smith to win the leadership contest.
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Mr Branchflower told The Guardian Mr Corbyn was “absolutely, completely unelectable” and said: ‘With the economy in the state it’s in, it needs all hands to the pump – businesses, unions, workers, government, opposition’.
