Jeremy Corbyn has called on Labour to rescind a rule change barring new members from voting in the upcoming leadership election, as one of his challengers, Owen Smith, called for a quick decision on whether he or Angela Eagle would face Corbyn on the ballot.
The Labour leader criticised the decision of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) last week to change the regulation so that only people who have been Labour members for at least six months will be allowed to vote. The same meeting also raised the fee for registered supporters, who can take part, from £3 to £25.
Corbyn told BBC1’s Sunday Politics that he was hopeful that the changes would be overturned, calling the £25 figure “quite high and not really reasonable”.
“There’s going to be some quite intense discussions over the next few days, I suspect, and I hope our party officials and our national executive will see sense on this and recognise that those people that have freely given of their time and their money to join the Labour party should be welcomed in and given the opportunity to take part in this crucial debate, whichever way they decide to vote,” he said.
“I’m hoping there will be an understanding that it’s simply not very fair to say to people that joined the party in the last six months that ‘sorry, your participation is no longer welcome, as we’re having a leadership contest’.”
In a separate interview with the Sunday Mirror, Corbyn hinted that he might support a legal challenge to the rule changes. One trade union with a member on the NEC, the TSSA, has indicated that it could begin one. Corbyn said: “There may be a legal move, but nothing has been decided yet. Not by me anyway.”
Smith said on Sunday that Labour needed to decide quickly on a single leadership challenger, between himself and Eagle, arguing that whoever got more support among MPs should be left to stand against Corbyn.
Eagle, who is believed to be lagging in nomination numbers, declined to accept that this should automatically happen.
Seeking to outline his policies to lead Labour, Smith said were he prime minister, he would order a nuclear strike if it were needed. He also called for a “much more radical” approach to taxation and benefits, saying that he would happily reintroduce a 50p top rate of tax “tomorrow” and consider a rise in capital gains tax.
The former shadow pensions secretary will take on Eagle, who was previously shadow business secretary, in a parliamentary Labour party (PLP) hustings on Monday, as the two challengers vie for support from MPs and MEPs before Wednesday’s deadline for nominations.
Smith is reported to have the support of about 90 Labour MPs and MEPs, which his supporters believe is about 35 more than Eagle. Corbyn seems unlikely to gather the 51 nominations normally needed to get on the ballot; however, as the incumbent leader, he will have an automatic place following a decision by the NEC last week.
Under the rules, all three could go forward for a vote of Labour members, registered supporters and union affiliates. However, the challengers are keen to whittle the choice down to Corbyn and one opponent.
“I think one of us standing would be better, is the honest answer,” Smith told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show, on which he appeared with Eagle. “But I think the PLP has got to be a grownup organisation and come to a decision in the next couple of days as to who it is.”
Asked if the party should pick based on who had more nominations, Smith said: “That’s one way in which we could do it, or we could make an agreement between ourselves. But my view is, whoever is the person who commands the larger degree of support in the PLP is the unity candidate, and that’s the person who should go forward and take Jeremy on.”
Eagle disagreed, saying: “I think we have to have the person that’s most likely to beat Jeremy Corbyn, and I think that’s me.” Pressed by Marr how an agreement might work, she added: “We’re not going to do a deal here on your sofa, beautiful though it is.”
Eagle presented herself as the experienced, capable Labour voice, saying she had “wiped the floor” with George Osborne at prime minister’s questions, when they had deputised for their leaders. “I’m a working-class woman and that’s what we need at the moment,” she said.
Asked for his view on renewing the Trident nuclear submarine system, Smith said even though he was once a member of CND, he was now a multilateralist and would vote in favour. When pressed by Marr on whether he would order a nuclear strike as prime minister, which Corbyn said he would not, Smith replied: “You’ve got to be prepared to say yes to that. It was a mistake of Jeremy to say that [he would not]. I understand, it’s a terrible thought for anybody.
“I think the world has got more volatile – we’ve got to stick with what we’ve got and renew it, if that’s the advice of the security services. And it’s awful that we’ve got to do that, but I’m afraid it’s true.”
Smith played down the idea of a split in the party if Corbyn won a second leadership election. “I’m not leaving the Labour party, not for Jeremy Corbyn or anybody else,” he said. “I’ve always felt it’s the Labour party or nothing for me. But I will serve and work with Jeremy if he wins.”
Eagle was asked about the activities of the pro-Corbyn Momentum group and intimidation towards some opponents of the leader. A brick was reportedly put through the window of Eagle’s constituency office building in Wallasey last week.
She said Momentum itself was not the problem. “I think it’s important, and a good thing, that many, many more people have joined the party. We need to engage them much more in our day-to-day work and we need to listen to our members. But what’s been happening recently isn’t the kinder, gentler politics that we were promised. We have to stamp in out,” she said.
Speaking on BBC1, Corbyn condemned intimidation, but said the NEC’s decision to halt party meetings before the leadership vote was “a big mistake”. He argued that often a greater problem for meetings had been overcrowding.
“The issues appear to be that where meetings have taken place, far more people have attended than were expected, and so there’s been issues about how people can get in the room,” he said. “There’s a fairly simple answer to that: get a bigger room.”
