One of the two lawmakers vying to replace British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has dropped out of the leadership race.
Advertisement
It now means the regional Labour Party will take over the administration of the Wallasey constituency party.
He said: “I have worked closely with Owen and seen first hand how he would make an outstanding leader of the Labour Party”.
“She is a great Labour woman and I absolutely can not do without her in what will be a very hard few months”, he told the BBC. “As Scotland’s only Labour MP, Ian has a crucial role to play in representing Scotland’s interests at Westminster and working to strengthen our party as he has done since he was re-elected a year ago”.
Former shadow cabinet ministers Angela Eagle and Owen Smith have reached a “common understanding” about the best way to take on Mr Corbyn, who won a landslide victory previous year.
A High Court claim brought by Labour donor Michael Foster, a former parliamentary candidate, is now against one named defendant – the party’s general secretary Iain McNicol, who is being sued in a representative capacity.
At a hustings in Parliament Ms Eagle dodged calls by MPs to stand aside if she fails to secure the most nominations – something Mr Smith has promised to do.
Former shadow work and pensions secretary Smith will now go forward to fight Corbyn in a ballot of party members and supporters which ends on September 24.
“To be blunt about it, the Labour Party aren’t functioning as they should right now”.
But Mr Corbyn wishes to be added as a party to the proceedings as second defendant.
“We have a Labour Party at the moment that is not working, we have got a leader that doesn’t have the confidence of his members of parliament and isn’t reaching out to the country”, Eagle said.
Advertisement
Kezia Dugdale, the party’s leader in Scotland, announced the move as she said the chances of a UK Labour government under Mr Corbyn’s leadership were “slim at best and non-existent at worst”. He had also refused to criticise Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, until very recently, and was even tipped to be offered a Shadow Cabinet position until he described Corbyn’s position as “untenable” following the European Union referendum.
