JEREMY Corbyn will automatically be included on the ballot in Labour’s leadership contest following a vote by the ruling National Executive Committee.
Advertisement
Mr Corbyn was elected leader last September after party members and registered supporters voted for him in huge numbers.
Unions have warned Labour against a “sordid fix” to remove Jeremy Corbyn, as the party’s ruling committee prepared to decide whether he will have an automatic place on the ballot paper in the upcoming leadership contest.
Lord Collins, Labour’s general secretary when the rule requiring candidates to obtain the nominations of 20% of MPs and MEPs was introduced, said it applied to all candidates including an incumbent leader.
Leadership challenger Angela Eagle has pleaded with Labour backers to “save” the party and “heal” the country by signing up for a vote to kick out Jeremy Corbyn.
It ruled that union members will not be able to vote in the party’s leadership contest unless they joined before January 12, bringing them into line with rules on people who had previously joined as full members.
Corbyn was most recently criticized over perceptions he ran a lackluster “remain” campaign ahead of June’s European Union membership referendum and overwhelmingly lost a vote of confidence among Labour lawmakers last month.
On Monday night Ms Eagle said: “I’m glad Labour’s NEC has come to a decision”.
Eagle called on Corbyn to rein in his supporters, saying attacks such as the vandalising of her office were “being done in his name, and he needs to get control of the people who are supporting him and make certain that this behaviour stops and stops now”.
The decision is a major blow to the majority of Labour’s MPs who are desperate to overthrow the leader they say does not have what it takes to lead them to power.
The former shadow business secretary said she had no choice but to move against Mr Corbyn because Britain was in danger of becoming a “one-party Tory state” under his leadership.
She said: “I’m more optimistic about it than that, I’m looking forward to the challenge, I’m looking forward to discussing the ideas that we need to debate so that we can put our party in the strongest possible position”.
“It’s come to our attention that this may not be because science policy has become a priority for the nation but perhaps more to do with people trying to sidestep the Labour NEC decision”, it added.
Advertisement
She said: “He was elected 10 months ago with a huge mandate from Labour members, so it would have been very undemocratic not to allow him to be on the ballot”.
