Registered supporter status, which gives people a one-off vote if they pay a fee, will cost £25 this time round instead of the £3 payment that saw thousands of Mr Corbyn’s supporters sign up in the run-up to last September’s vote.
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“When he was elected leader, people wanted to see how he would do at elections and he has won all the by-elections and mayoral contests he has faced and performed better than expected at the local elections, so he should be allowed to continue”.
Ms Eagle announced her decision to stand for the Labour leadership yesterday, and she has already secured the backing of 51 MPs needed for a formal challenge.
The contest comes after last month’s rebellion against the sitting leader, Jeremy Corbyn, which saw half of the shadow cabinet resign in protest at what they claimed was Corbyn’s inability to head the main opposition party after Brexit.
Shadow Business Minister Eagle welcomes the contest she says she will win.
“He is reminding me of the Black Knight in Monty Python’s Holy Grail”, he said.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will be on the leadership ballot following a decision by the National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday.
He admitted it would be preferable if there was only one challenger to Mr Corbyn in the leadership race, saying: “Ideally, we would have one candidate, and the clarity of that one candidate versus Jeremy Corbyn”.
Corbyn is nowhere near that figure after 172 MPs passed a motion of no confidence in his leadership and only 40 supported him. Labour Party notables could challenge the NEC decision in Court. “It would be alien to the concept of natural justice that Jeremy Corbyn is not automatically on the ballot paper”, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
The Pontypridd MP said Labour was “teetering on the brink of being destroyed”.
“I’m not prepared to stand by and let the Labour party – the party I love and that has been the greatest force for good in this country – split”.
It added: “While it is only right that we all accept the result of a fair election whatever it is, for our party’s safe and stable future, we must never accept a fix”.
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Mr Smith’s announcement came amid reports the NEC had suspended all local Constituency Labour Party meetings until the end of the leadership campaign following complaints of harassment and intimidation.
