New Labour members will not be able to vote in the party’s upcoming leadership contest.
The party’s ruling body, the national executive committee (NEC), has barred people who have been party members for less than six months from voting. In addition, those signing up as supporters to get a vote will now have to pay £25 instead of the £3 that was charged last summer, when Jeremy Corbyn was elected.
The move could help those who wish to remove Corbyn. It follows a vote of “no-confidence” against Corbyn from MPs, and leadership challenges from Angela Eagle and Owen Smith.
A 38Degrees petition has been set up by Tim Longson challenging the ban and has already gathered more than 2,000 signatures. The petition reads: “We believe that as this will disqualify up to 20% of the whole Labour party membership (around 100,000 members), and that this is unacceptable and misrepresentational (sic) of the democratic Labour membership will.”
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