Jeremy Corbyn was given a major boost today when five new members of the Labour Party won a High Court battle over their legal right to vote in the forthcoming leadership election.
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The Pontypridd MP – who is challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership in a ballot of party members and supporters ending on September 24 – will accuse successive governments since the 1980s of allowing manufacturing to dwindle, while favouring the growth of the financial service sector and the creation of low-skill, low-pay jobs.
Owen Smith, who is challenging Mr Corbyn for the leadership, said the timeframe for the leadership election should be extended if those extra members had the opportunity to vote.
On Monday, Mr Justice Hickinbottom ruled that the NEC was not within its rights to impose such a restriction.
“Now many more members will have the chance to vote in the leadership election, I am today calling for an extension of the timetable so that all members have the opportunity to engage with Jeremy and me before making their choice”. People who joined after could only vote if they had paid a £25 fee to become a registered supporter, or if they were voting through an affiliated trade union.
The NEC decided that full members would not be able to vote if they had not had at least six months’ continuous membership up to 12 July – the “freeze date”.
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”.
Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA rail union, described the appeal against the High Court ruling as “catastrophic”.
He said the court of appeal would hear a case on Thursday if such an appeal is lodged on time.
Yesterday Mr Smith called Labour MPs or staffers to be banned from accepting honours or peerages for five years after leaving office.
A group of five is complaining they had “paid their dues” only to be blocked by the Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee.
“I am deeply grateful for the support of so many: the donations of over 1,700 people to support the substantial costs in taking this action for democracy”.
Jeremy Corbyn’s allies had urged the party not to pursue an appeal, claiming members’ money was being squandered on stopping them from voting.
Ms Evangelou, 41, a fitness instructor from Enfield, north London, said she believed most of the new members wanted to help Mr Corbyn “take the party back to its roots”.
Although bad news if you recently joined the Labour Party then cancelled your membership and cut up your card in disgust after they didn’t let you vote in the leadership election.
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Other backers directly bringing the legal action included Christine Evangelou, Rev Edward Leir and Chris Granger.
