OWEN SMITH was accused of “degrading” the Labour leadership contest yesterday for seemingly branding rival Jeremy Corbyn a “lunatic”.
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He said he would write to Mr McNicol to demand that “members and supporters who are suspended or lose their voting rights are given clear information about why action has been taken and a timely opportunity to challenge the decision”.
Last month, Ms Turley told the Gazette she would be supporting Owen Smith “because my constituents in Redcar desperately need a strong and effective opposition leader to hold this Tory government to account and I believe Owen is the person to do it”.
During a fiery hustings in Glasgow on Thursday night, the Welsh MP bemoaned how Scottish Labour had “gone backwards” under Mr Corbyn’s leadership, going from second to third behind Ruth Davidson’s Tories.
Now the Labour Party is sifting through 180,000 new members to ensure they are not part of other groups.
“People in Scotland can not look to Labour in Westminster right now and anticipate us winning a general election, therefore we are ill serving the Scottish Labour Party and we are ill serving the people of Scotland”. “I intend to challenge my suspension robustly and am now taking legal advice”.
The Labour-affiliated Bakers’ Union has endorsed Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership contest.
“I believe this flies in the face of natural justice”.
Addressing an audience at University College Hospital in London, Corbyn said: “Privatization and outsourcing don’t just erode the founding principles of the NHS, they’re actually a bad waste of resources”.
Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn called for an end to the online abuse being directed at Johanna Baxter, a member of the ruling National Executive Committee, over the suspensions. Another said his application to join had been rejected on the grounds that he had tweeted support for the Green Party.
“The issues have to be the Labour party’s commitment to redistribution of wealth and power. The conduct of this election must be fair and even-handed”.
Although some high-profile Remain campaigners backed a second referendum, pro-EU Conservatives expressed scepticism over what one described as a stunt.
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He said: “I stand just as Scottish Labour did in May on an unashamedly anti-austerity platform with policies that will ensure that no-one across Scotland and the rest of the country is left behind”. It is not known whether Sainsbury, who is on a leave of absence from the Lords, is still a Labour member.
