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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Jeremy Corbyn sweeps to victory increasing his mandate as Labour leader – as it happened

Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership election

Afternoon summary

Elections are passionate and partisan affairs things are often said in the heat of the debate on all sides that we later regret.

But always remember in our party, we have much more in common than that which divides us.

As far as I’m concerned the slate is wiped clean from today.

We are proud as a party that we’re not afraid to discuss openly, to debate and disagree that is essential for a party that wants to change people’s lives for the better that isn’t prepared to accept things as they are

  • Corbyn has said that “lots of MPs” are now willing to support him ahead of compromise talks which may thrash out a deal that could lead to shadow ministers who resigned because they had lost confidence in Corbyn agreeing to work for him again. Around 60 shadow ministers resigned over the summer; a few have indicated publicly that they would be willing to return to the front bench, but many are still resisting. The party’s national executive committee is meeting this evening to discuss the impasse. Corbyn wants the dissidents to return to the front bench so he can run an effective opposition in parliament. His critics want him to agree to shadow cabinet elections. As the Herald’s Kate Devlin reports, MPs are under pressure not to go back until Corbyn has compromised.

Given that Corbyn wants party members to have more seats on the NEC (to extend his power there), and MPs want at least some shadow cabinet members to be elected, it is not hard to see how some sort of deal could be struck. Corbyn said that “lots of changes” will be announced over the next few weeks. (See 4.55pm.)

  • Smith has ruled out returning to the shadow cabinet. His team are taking consolation from a YouGov poll finding showing that 63% of people who were members before 2015 voted for him. “These are the backbone of the party - the councillors, canvassers and leafleters”, a Smith source said.
  • Corbyn has told Labour’s women’s conference that he is committed to tackling sexual harassment online. He told the delegates:

Under my leadership, the Labour party has committed to consulting and working with women’s and other relevant organisations on how to strengthen the law and its implementation to tackle sexual harassment and threats online and increase organisations’ responsibility towards promoting safe and respectful ‘community standards’ online

‘Reclaim the Internet’ which many colleagues here today, including Jess Philips have been supporting brings together women’s campaigns, think tanks, trade unions and media platforms to challenge the abuse that women face online.

Women who are in the public eye including women in politics face greater challenges, and outrageous abuse both on and offline. Wherever abuse occurs, it is incumbent upon us all to ensure that it is taken seriously and challenged.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Nia Griffith, who resigned as shadow Welsh secretary over the summer, has said she is willing to serve under Jeremy Corbyn again. The news has been posted on Twitter by Paul Flynn, who replaced her as shadow Welsh secretary and who seems very happy for her to come back. Flynn, a reluctant shadow cabinet appointee, is also doubling up as shadow leader of the Commons.

Tom Baldwin, communications director for Ed Miliband when Miliband was leader, and an opponent of Jeremy Corbyn’s, has written an article for the Guardian setting out what he thinks MPs should do to remove Corbyn. Here is an extract.

The best – perhaps only – way to remove Corbyn is by fighting on the same set of rules he has exploited so successfully. That means signing up more members than Momentum. Those who want the chance to be leader in the future need to earn it by beginning a national campaign to sign up half a million mainstream Labour members over the next two years.

It is no small task. But I do not understand how almost an entire generation of mainstream Labour MPs can throw their hands up in horror at the prospect of trying to recruit more members than a far-left fringe that has just emerged from the woods. Presumably, they went into politics because they felt they had some skill in winning support. Now is the time they need to demonstrate such talents by expanding, not shrinking, the selectorate.

Here is the full text of Angela Rayner, the shadow women and equality minister’s, speech to the women’s conference. Her mother was in the audience as she spoke, and in a very personal passage Rayner explained that her mother had been an inspiration to her.

My mum was born on the largest council estate in Europe and was one of twelve children. They lived in poverty. And when I say poverty I mean poverty in every sense.

She cannot to this day read or write and was bullied at school.

They barely survived let alone lived on what money the family had.

My mum never felt loved and didn’t know how to love, hugs, cuddles and any signs of affection just wasn’t the norm.

Throughout her life she has faced hardship and struggle. She tried her best to be a good mum and I know that now. I haven’t always given her an easy ride.

It’s fair to say my upbringing was only marginally better than my mum’s. Mainly because of the interventions by the state and the advancement of equal rights in Britain.

My mum would be the first to admit she didn’t know how to love us kids or how to care for us. Let’s face it she didn’t have the right role models or upbringing herself.

But you know what, she taught me that we have to keep fighting and improving the system. We have to break down the barriers that exist still to this day for many woman in our country and across the globe. She taught me through her own struggles that I was just as good as everyone else and to stand tall and be proud of who I am.

YouGov has published its own blog about its “exit poll” - its poll of people eligible to vote in the Labour leadership conducted this week after almost everyone had voted.

This chart shows Jeremy Corbyn’s lead amongst particular groups of voters.

Momentum has announced today a partnership with Disabled People Against the Cuts. It says it wants to put disabled people’s rights and accessibility and inclusion “at the heart of the labour movement”. In a statement it said:

Groups such as Disabled People Against the Cuts, who were instrumental in opposing the cuts to Personal Independence Payments, will be invited to advise on access requirements so that events and activities are inclusive for those with disabilities. Alongside Momentum Kids, this initiative is part of Momentum’s drive to make politics more inclusive and participatory.

Over the coming months, Momentum hopes to develop further links with disabled activists and to assist in campaigning against devastating cuts.

Here are some pictures from today’s conference events.

Laura Alvarez, Jeremy Corbyn’s wife, sits in the audience ahead of the Labour leadership announcement.
Laura Alvarez, Jeremy Corbyn’s wife, sits in the audience ahead of the Labour leadership announcement. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Owen Smith (left) and Jeremy Corbyn before the announcement of the winner.
Owen Smith (left) and Jeremy Corbyn before the announcement of the winner. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA
Jeremy Corbyn waving to supporters following his speech after being announced as the winner.
Jeremy Corbyn waving to supporters following his speech after being announced as the winner. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Jeremy Corbyn waiting for a TV interview.
Jeremy Corbyn waiting for a TV interview. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
People at the Momentum festival as the election result is announced.
People at the Momentum festival as the election result is announced. Photograph: Pat Hurst/PA
Angela Eagle (left), who launched a leadership bid in the summer before dropping out to make way for Owen Smith, with her twin sister Maria at the conference venue.
Angela Eagle (left), who launched a leadership bid in the summer before dropping out to make way for Owen Smith, with her twin sister Maria at the conference venue. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

This is from Sky’s Faisal Islam.

A Labour peer is set to resign in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election as party leader, the Press Association reports.

Lord Mitchell, who is Jewish, said that he would quit over the leader’s handling of the anti-semitism row.

The businessman was made a Labour peer in 2000 and served as a frontbencher under Ed Miliband.

He had previously said he would leave Labour if Mr Corbyn was re-elected and he told the Press Association: “I’m a man of my word.”

Lord Mitchell said he would make a formal announcement about his future on Sunday.

In a letter to The Times in August, Lord Mitchell wrote: “As a Jew, I find the allegations of anti-semitism in the Labour Party very distressing.

“Even more upsetting is the way Jeremy Corbyn dismisses what he has permitted to fester at the highest levels of our party.”

He said the report on the issue produced by Baroness Chakrabarti had been an “insipid whitewash” and continued: “I have come to the painful conclusion that were Mr Corbyn re-elected ... I will have to resign my membership of the Labour Party.

“I cannot remain a member of a party that goes against such a crucual issue that I hold dear.”

Following Mr Corbyn’s re-election Lord Mitchell said: “I will be making an announcement tomorrow. But let’s say I’m a man of my word.”

Corbyn suggests that 'lots of MPs' now willing to support him

Jeremy Corbyn has given an interview to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. Here are the key points.

  • Corbyn said that “lots of MPs” had been in touch offering to support him, implying that they would be returning to frontbench roles. He said:

I think you will see a sense of unity around the party. I’ve already had messages from ... lots of people who want to get on board and get out there and do the campaigning. And that’s just what we are going to be doing.

When asked if he was referring to MPs, he said he he was talking about “lots of MPs”.

  • He said that there would be “a lot of changes” to party rules being proposed soon. This is what he said when asked if he would introduce shadow cabinet elections.

There is a need to strengthen the democracy within our party. We are a party of more than half a million members, and so there has to be a discussion about democracy in the party. And that includes the proposal for elections to the shadow cabinet. That is absolutely in the mix. That is what we are discussing at the moment with colleagues in parliament, with the parliamentary committee and with many others on the national executive committee. So I think you will see a lot of changes over the next few weeks.

  • He played down the prospect of MPs being deselected. Asked why he would not rule out deselections, he replied:

It is not my decision on who is selected for a place or not. I am not a leader who imposes things on constituencies. The new boundaries will probably come in in 2018 ... Obviously all sitting MPs go automatically on the the shortlist. And I hope the local parties will recognise that and support them.

In the past, while not actually encouraging deselections, Corbyn has pointed out that the boundary changes will lead to new selections taking place. Today, by saying that he hoped local parties would support sitting MPs, he sounded more keen to quell concerns about MPs being deselected than he has done in the past.

This is from the Financial Times’ Jim Pickard.

Further to his earlier tweet (see 3pm) ITV’s Chris Ship has posted another one saying that, when Jeremy Corbyn talked about a shadow cabinet reshuffle happening “imminently”, he did not quite mean imminently.

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Patrick McLoughlin, the Conservative party chairman, was on Sky News earlier talking about Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election. Asked if he thought this result increased the chances of the Tories winning the next election, he replied:

The next election is three and a half years away, and we are going to work hard to show that we deserve to win that next election. I take nothing for granted as far as elections are concerned. The government does not take elections for granted ... I hope that by 2020 we’ve shown the British people that we deserve the chance to carry on in government.

When you hear a politician say they take “nothing for granted” in an election, that normally means they are pretty confident they are going to win.

If the Tories are pleased about Corbyn’s victory, it is not hard to see why. Recently Ipsos MORI published its September political monitor, containing some detailed figures about Corbyn’s poll ratings. Here are some of the key charts.

Party leaders’ satisfaction ratings.
Party leaders’ satisfaction ratings. Photograph: Ipsos MORI
How Corbyn’s satisfaction ratings have changed.
How Corbyn’s satisfaction ratings have changed. Photograph: Ipsos MORI
How Corbyn compares with Theresa May on key attributes.
How Corbyn compares with Theresa May on key attributes. Photograph: Ipsos MORI
How Corbyn’s ratings on key attributes have changed over the last year.
How Corbyn’s ratings on key attributes have changed over the last year. Photograph: Ipsos MORI
How Corbyn’s ratings compare with other opposition leaders at same point in their leadership.
How Corbyn’s ratings compare with other opposition leaders at same point in their leadership. Photograph: Ipsos MORI

We could be getting a shadow cabinet reshuffle imminently. This is from ITV’s Chris Ship.

That’s bad new for the journalists in Liverpool. Corbyn’s reshuffles tend to go on even longer than NEC meetings. We could be stuck covering it for ages.

But it is possible that Corbyn may have a limited reshuffle all ready to go. Some of the MPs who took shadow cabinet jobs in the summer, when the mass resignations occurred, like their new roles and will not want to move. But others are there on sufferance and may be happy to stand down at the first opportunity to make way for returnees.

Jeremy Corbyn has been speaking to Sky News. Sky’s Faisal Islam thinks Corbyn is engaged in a game of brinkmanship with his Labour critics who are demanding shadow cabinet elections.

Updated

The Socialist party, the successor organisation to Militant, has also put out a statement welcoming Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election. It said:

Despite the best efforts of the Blairites, the right-wing media, and behind them the capitalist establishment, Jeremy Corbyn now has a bigger mandate than ever. The Blairites are reeling in the face of the mass anti-austerity surge that has defeated them. This doesn’t mean, however, that they are reconciled to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership or to the prospect of Labour becoming an anti-austerity party. The issue of what needs to be done to consolidate Jeremy Corbyn’s victory – by really transforming Labour into an anti-austerity, socialist, working-class mass movement – is the critical question facing socialists in Britain today.

Many of the 60-odd Labour frontbenchers who resigned over the summer seem determined to remain on the back benches. Speaking to Sky News, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said that although he and Jeremy Corbyn would like them to return to the front bench, they were also happy for the dissidents carry on opposing the Tories as backbenchers.

We’ve also said to them, if you feel you don’t want to serve on the front bench, choose a policy area and you lead on it and that’s what Yvette [Cooper] has done. She chose refugees and she’s done a brilliant job. Caroline Flint did it on tax evasion, tax avoidance – she’s taken that and again, even secured amendments to the finance bill.

The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has welcomed Jeremy Corbyn. This is from Dave Nellist, the former Labour MP who is TUSC’s national chair.

Jeremy’s decisive victory over a concerted effort to take Labour back to the Blair days will give heart to socialists outside the Labour party, too.

But unfortunately it’s not over yet. It’s clear to me that the right are not going to give up. And neither should the left.

The only way that Jeremy’s victory can be consolidated is by democratising the Labour party and building a wider anti-austerity party, one that could bring into alliance with Labour a range of socialist, anti-cuts and green organisations and parties, that could reach out to parts of the population that Labour has lost touch with.

I’ve just bumped into Paul Mason, the journalist and broadcaster who is one of Jeremy Corbyn’s strongest media supporters, and he said the left of Labour would defend itself against any form of “coup 2.0”. He warned that shadow cabinet elections would inevitably result in a number of people who disagree with Corbyn being elected.

If the PLP impose a shadow cabinet on Corbyn, the membership will not accept it.

Mason also warned that moving to shadow cabinet elections could be seen as disloyal to the MPs who made up the shadow cabinet throughout the leadership battle “withstanding a fire of abuse from the other side” without proper support from other Labour colleagues.

If we end up with something which is effectively coup 2.0, then even though there is not a formal mechanism for deselecting MPs, we would expect the left to start naming politicians.

Seema Malhotra, who resigned as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury in the summer, told Sky News that she would be “open to a discussion” about returning to the front bench. But MPs could play an important role from the backbenches too, she said.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has posted this tweet flagging up an interview he gave to the Daily Mirror recently as a guide to what might happen next.

Here’s an extract.

Mr McDonnell is upbeat about being able to assemble a frontbench team and is planning a “tea offensive” to persuade the rebels to come back.

A “large proportion” of the MPs who rebelled will serve in some form, he predicted.

Asked if this could include Hilary Benn, the former shadow Foreign Secretary, he replied: “Of course, we have not put any exclusions down whatsoever.

In her analysis (see 1.32pm) my colleague Anushka Asthana mentioned Ian Warren’s YouGov “exit poll” of the Labour selectorate.

Warren has now posted the results in full on his website. And here is an extract from his blog about them.

Owen Smith won Scotland with 58% of the vote and came close to defeating Mr Corbyn in London. However Mr Corbyn performed extremely strongly in the rest of the country with big margins of victory in the North, Midlands, Wales and the rest of the South.

The exit poll has Owen Smith winning among 18 to 24 year olds, although they account for 11% of the selectorate. Mr Corbyn won with big margins among 25 to 39 year olds (63:36) 40 to 50 year olds (62:37). Together these ‘working-age’ groups account for 62% of the selectorate ...

Mr Corbyn won convincingly among newer members of the party, achieving 83% among those members which joined the party after he became leader and 75% among those which joined between May and September 2015.

However Owen Smith won 63% of the vote among members which joined the party before May 2015.

Patrick McLoughlin, the Conservative party chairman, has issued a statement responding to Jeremy Corbyn’s election. The Labour party has just re-elected a leader who saw 75% of his MPs vote against him in a no confidence motion, and so McLoughlin’s attack line is predictable. McLoughlin said:

Labour are too divided, distracted and incompetent to build a country that works for everyone. 172 Labour MPs don’t think Jeremy Corbyn can lead the Labour party - so how can he lead the country?

Instead of learning lessons from the past, they have engaged in a bitter power struggle that will continue even after they’ve picked a leader.

While Labour row amongst themselves, this Conservative government will continue to deliver a country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.

There has been little discussion of the no confidence vote in Liverpool today, understandably, but while it stands the Tories will find campaigning against Corbyn quite easily. That’s why, in his recent long and very thorough analysis of what Labour needs to do next, my colleague Owen Jones said overturning the no confidence vote should be a priority. Here’s an excerpt.

MPs could say they’re overturning the vote of no confidence for two reasons: firstly, to accept the democratic decision of the membership, but secondly, in exchange for concessions. These concessions would be conciliation with Corbyn opponents (making a distinction between the irreconcilables from the critics), as well as a strategy for winning a general election (or, frankly, avoiding a disastrous rout). Mandatory reselection should continue to be opposed by the leadership (it is unlikely to be endorsed by the NEC, in any case) and the existing arrangements for selections after the boundary changes should be maintained. Some believe that this is waving a white flag of surrender. But if MPs believe that they will be deselected — which they may think is inevitable however they behave — it won’t force them into line: they will simply have no incentive whatsoever to cooperate.

Here is my colleague Anushka Asthana’s analysis of the election result.

And here is an extract.

One other piece of evidence that will be raked over by the “modernisers” who wanted to topple Corbyn is a Yougov “exit poll” of the election, commissioned by the psephologist Ian Warren.

The poll predicted that Corbyn would win by 59% - reasonably close, although slightly below Corbyn’s actual result. It also suggested that the leader performed particularly well with female members – securing seven out of 10 of their votes – and hefty support among voters aged 25 to 50.

But, with the caveat that this was a poll and not an actual result, it also suggested that Smith was ahead in Scotland and even among 18- to 24-year-olds, although they were just 11% of the total electorate.

More interestingly, the poll suggested Smith had the backing of a clear majority (it said 63%) of Labour members before May 2015.

The Socialist Workers party has welcomed Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election. This is from Amy Leather, its joint secretary.

Jeremy Corbyn’s victory is a boost to everyone who hates austerity and racism. Corbyn’s rallies have seen large and enthusiastic audiences come to cheer a socialist message. Those people must become a movement in the streets and the workplaces that can block and then remove this Tory government.”

The SWP is not part of the Labour party. But next Sunday, alongside Labour members, we will be part of the demonstration at the Conservative conference in Birmingham. On Saturday 8 October we will join the Stand Up To Racism conference which is dedicated to building a mass anti-racist movement in Britain—and where Jeremy Corbyn will be speaking.”

We will work together with all the Corbyn supporters both inside and outside the Labour party to fight austerity, racism and war. A particular focus for us all must be to back the junior doctors’ strikes that start on 5 October.

We urge Jeremy Corbyn to call a national demonstration in support of the junior doctors and to defend the NHS.

Owen Smith has just given a pooled broadcast interview in which he said he stands by his intention not to rejoin the shadow cabinet.

Here is some more union reaction to Jeremy Corbyn’s victory.

Basically, everyone is calling for unity.

From GMB general secretary Tim Roache

It’s time for the Labour party to unite and get on with holding this government to account, standing up for working people and winning their support rather than continually talking to ourselves about ourselves and banging on about our internal differences.

From PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka

Jeremy’s re-election with an increased share of the vote must surely end all speculation about his leadership and the whole of the Labour movement now has a responsibility to train their fire unremittingly on this Tory government’s discredited austerity policies.

From Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union

That is a mandate for policies which support trade union rights, public services and a radical shift in political direction in favour of ordinary working people.

From John Hannett , general secretary of the shop workers’ union Usdaw

Now that the election is over, the leader must heal the rifts and work to ensure that Labour is a strong and credible opposition in Parliament.

From Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union

It is now time for everyone – especially those in the parliamentary Labour party who have spent so much of the last year undermining Jeremy – to get behind him, to turn their fire on the Tories, and to get ready for a general election which could be just around the corner.

My colleague Rowena Mason was at the Momentum The World Transformed conference when the news of Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election was announced. She has filed an account. Here is how it starts.

The room in Liverpool erupted in screams, cheers and dancing as Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected leader of the Labour party by a larger margin than last year.

This was not the scene of the formal announcement, but about 15 minutes down the road, where 750 of the leader’s staunch supporters gathered in a community space called Black-E.

Dozens were kitted out in Team Corbyn or Momentum T-shirts. Others also wore their politics on their chests with slogans urging an end the siege in Gaza and justice for the families of those who have died in police custody.

For the most part, however, those who had turned up to watch Corbyn’s victory were not diehard or longstanding activists. Roisin Vere, 27, and Tom Logan, 29, both live in the city and were planning to go to watch a football match this afternoon rather than hang around at a political conference.

The full version is here, at the bottom of our new lead story.

Updated

Here is Dave Prentis, the Unison general secretary, on Jeremy Corbyn’s victory.

Jeremy Corbyn has won because he’s captured the imagination of party members. People are inspired by his promises to end austerity, fix our broken public services and build a different kind of economy.

But the scale of the political challenge facing Labour cannot be ignored. The party already faced an uphill battle to convince the British people before this unhelpful leadership contest.

A way must be found so Labour can come together - using the talents of the best MPs from across the party in the shadow cabinet, taking the fight to the Tories, rather than fighting one another.

Jeremy must show those sceptical about his leadership that he has the ability and the ideas to win an election, and enable Labour to regain the support of the British people.

McCluskey urges Labour MPs to give up 'sniping, plotting and corridor coups'

Len McCluskey, general secretary of the pro-Corbyn Unite union and key Jeremy Corbyn supporter, said Labour MPs should now unite behind Corbyn and abandon “sniping, plotting and corridor coups”. He said:

This election contest was needless, a distraction that the Labour party and its members could have done without. But after a summer of unrest we can now look forward to the party taking on this Conservative government, exposing its divisive and elitist policies.

We urge Labour MPs to heed the signal sent by the members - twice now in one year - about the direction they want for the party. This includes respecting and supporting the elected leader and his team; no more sniping, plotting and corridor coups.

I hope that all the talents of the party can now be harnessed and MPs return to serve in the shadow cabinet as Jeremy builds the alternative government the people of this country dearly need.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor and Jeremy Corbyn’s close ally, said that Corbyn’s victory was “extraordinary” in the circumstances.

Jeremy has got an increased mandate, extraordinary really. It was tough because we had 130,000 members ruled out and that would have added another five or seven or eight per cent to his vote I think. But, nevertheless, he still got 61.8%.

He said there would be a “discussion” about the demand from MPs for the return of shadow cabinet elections, but he said appealed for unity.

I think the spirit now at the end of this election campaign is one of coming together.

Election results - Analysis

Here are the key points from the headline voting figures. (A more detailed set of figures may be released later.)

  • Jeremy Corbyn has increased his majority and his grip on the party is getting stronger. The number of people voting was just over 80,000 higher than it was in 2015, and so the key figure to look at is percentage of first-preference votes. Last year Corbyn got 59.5% of first-preference votes when he was up against three candidates, Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall. This year he got 61.8% of the votes. That is not a dramatic increase, but it is an increase.
  • Corbyn has a clear majority with all three groups voting in the contest. Last year he had had an overwhelming lead amongst registered supporters and affiliated supporters, but amongst members he only had 49.6% of first-preference votes, meaning that Burnham/Cooper/Kendall beat him collectively. (Admittedly, if Kendall’s votes had been re-allocated, he might have crept over the 50% threshold on the second round.) This time Corbyn won 59% of the members’ votes. That probably reflects the extent to which the party membership has changed, with Corbyn supporters joining after his election last year and those opposed to him leaving.
  • Corbyn again was best at getting registered supporters to back him, but he did not win amongst this group as overwhelmingly as he did last time. In 2015 Corbyn was much better than other candidates at actively recruiting registered supporters and he won by 84% in this category. This year he won with 70%, reflecting the fact that this year Corbyn’s opponents made an active effort, through groups like Saving Labour, to get their own people to sign up. The fact that people had to pay £25 to be a registered supporter, not £3, may also have deflated Corbyn’s support a bit.
  • Corbyn’s support amongst affiliated supporters (union members) was up, but not by much, from 58% to 60%. This group may have been the most stable of the three groups in the selectorate (ie, least changed from 2015). There was some anecdotal evidence in the spring suggesting that some people who backed Corbyn in 2015 were starting to have doubts about him. If so, it is possible that any loss he suffered in support may have been outweighed by people rallying to him because they disapproved of the actions of those MPs plotting against him.

Updated

Owen Smith says he will 'reflect carefully' on what role he will play with Labour in future

Owen Smith has issued a statement about the result. I can’t find it on the web, so here it is in full.

I want to congratulate Jeremy Corbyn on his clear win in this leadership contest. There is no doubt that the Labour party has changed under his leadership, he has mobilised huge numbers of people over the last 12 months, many of whom are here at Conference in Liverpool, and he deserves the credit for that, and for winning this contest so decisively.

I am humbled by the more than 193,000 members, supporters and trade union members who have put their faith in me and I want to say a big thank you to them. It has been a privilege to meet so many of you, who have given so much of your lives to Labour, and I promise to continue to work for what we all believe in. It has been a huge honour for me to stand for leader of our great party and I am also deeply grateful to my Parliamentary colleagues for nominating me.

I entered this race because I didn’t think Jeremy was providing the leadership we needed, and because I felt we must renew our party to win back the voters’ trust and respect. However, I fully accept and respect the result and I will reflect carefully on it and on what role I might play in future to help Labour win again for the British people.

I have no time for talk of a split in the Labour movement - it’s Labour or nothing for me. And although today’s result shows that our movement remains divided, it now falls primarily to Jeremy Corbyn, as Labour Leader, to heal those divisions and to unite our movement. We have to turn round our dire opinion poll ratings and take on this right wing, failing Tory government. Jeremy has won this contest. He now has to win the country and he will have my support in trying to do so.

Above all, despite present divisions, we have to stick together in for the long term. I call on those party members disappointed by the result and tempted to look elsewhere to stay with Labour and to stay involved. Let’s work together to renew this movement and take the fight to the Tories.

I want to say thank you to my campaign team, and particular my wonderful campaign chairs, Kate Green, Heidi Alexander, and Lisa Nandy.

I want to thank Iain McNicol, the Labour Party staff and ERS who have all worked tirelessly and professionally during this contest.

And, most importantly, I want to thank my family who have made huge sacrifices for me during this campaign and in recent years. I’m going to be at Conference today and tomorrow before returning home to Wales to spend some precious time with them.

Thank you.

During the election campaign Smith repeatedly said he would not take a job in shadow cabinet if Jeremy Corbyn won.

But his line about about he will fully accept the result and “will reflect carefully on it and on what role I might play in future to help Labour win” suggests that he might be willing to change his mind on this.

And here are the percentages.

Members

Corbyn: 59%

Smith: 41%

Registered supporters

Corbyn: 70%

Smith: 30%

Affiliated supporters

Corbyn: 60%

Smith: 40%

Voting figures in detail

And here are the voting figures in detail.

How members voted

Corbyn: 168,216

Smith: 116,960

How registered supporters voted

Corbyn: 84,918

Smith: 36,599

How affiliated supporters voted

Corbyn: 60,075

Smith: 39,670

Leadership results

Updated

Here are more of the election statistics.

Eligible votes - 654,006

Votes cast - 506,438

Spoilt ballots - 1,042

Corbyn says Theresa May’s government is not a new government; it is a new version of David Cameron’s rightwing government.

He says school segregation is wrong.

He says poverty levels are unacceptable. Wealth must be shared more equally, he says.

He says Labour can form a government. He is urging members to join a campaign next Saturday calling for inclusive education for all.

The Tory plans for grammar schools expose their divisive agenda, he says.

He says he will fight the Tory plans. But Labour members must also work together, and respect the democratic choice that has been made.

Let us work together for real change, he says.

And that’s it.

Corbyn says it is time to 'wipe the slate clean'

Corbyn says sometimes in election campaigns things are said that people regret.

But there is more that they have in common than that divides them, he says.

He says it is time to “wipe the slate clean”.

He says the membership of the party has almost tripled since last spring.

He says Labour has a duty of care to its members. Politics is demeaned by abuse, he says. He says it is not his way or the Labour way.

Corbyn says Labour is a family

Jeremy Corbyn is speaking now.

He thanks Lewis, and thanks all his supporters. They have given him their trust.

He won a majority of members, affiliated supporters and registered supporters, he says.

It is the second mandate he has received in a year.

He thanks those volunteers who backed his campaign, and those who backed Smith too. Volunteers are the lifeblood of democracy, he says.

He thanks Smith. They have had interesting discussions, and good-humoured debates. No doubt they will continue, he says.

Because we are part of the same Labour family - and that is how it is going to continue to be.

Corbyn wins with 61.8% of the vote

Paddy Lillis, the chair of the NEC, is announcing the results.

Corbyn - 313,209 (61.8%)

Smith - 193,229 (38.2%)

Updated

Leadership election result announcement

Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith are taking the stage.

The former Labour and then Respect MP George Galloway has already congratulated Jeremy Corbyn.

This is from Sky’s Darren McCaffrey.

This is from the New Statesman’s George Eaton.

Corbyn 'has won with 62% of the vote'

My colleague Heather Stewart says she has heard that Jeremy Corbyn has won with 62% of the vote.

This is from ITV’s Chris Ship.

This is from Sky’s Darren McCaffrey.

My colleague Rowena Mason has posted this from the Momentum The World Transformed alternative conference.

Here is the Labour MP Neil Coyle commenting on the turnout. (See 10.40am.)

Sky’s Faisal Islam has seen Jeremy Corbyn this morning. He says Corbyn is looking confident.

If you are interested in these things, here is a House of Commons briefing note (pdf) with the results of all Labour leadership elections going back to 1922.

Some Liverpool fans plan to unfurl a Jeremy Corbyn banner at Anfield. Roy Bentham from the Blacklist Support Group, which campaigns for workers blacklisted in the construction industry, is behind the move. He said:

The banner is really about recognition for Jeremy and John’s tireless efforts in campaigning for social justice wherever that may be.

We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with them as they have with us on our long paths to justice.

Labour election - Has there been a 'purge'?

There has been much debate about how many people have been “purged” from the Labour leadership contest - denied a vote by party HQ for various reasons. Many of Jeremy Corbyns’s supporters believe that the party bureaucracy has been actively trying to help Owen Smith by excluding potential Corbyn voters, and even Corbyn has suggested that this could be happening.

Labour officials do not accept this and earlier this month they released figures apparently showing that only a tiny fraction of the selectorate were being excluded by the national executive committee panels that have been vetting voters to make sure they support Labour values. Only 3,107 people, or 0.48% of those entitled to vote, had been “purged”, Labour said.

But this figure ignores two other categories of people who have excluded from voting.

1- Around 130,000 people who joined Labour after 12 January were not allowed to vote because the party imposed that date as a cut-off point. Technically these people have not been “purged” because they are still party members, and some of them will have paid the £25 to vote as a registered supporter. And it is not unusual for parties to impose a cut off point for voting in a leadership contest, to stop last-minute entryism. But a six-month cut off is unusually long - in the Conservative leadership contest the equivalent period was three months - and when the national executive committee took this decision, it was widely interpreted as an anti-Corbyn move.

2 - Around 50,000 registered supporter applications were rejected for technical reasons. This does not mean that these people were “purged”, because the Labour party says the applications were invalid in the first place. And some were multiple applications, meaning we are not necessarily talking about 50,000 individuals. But the scale of the exclusions has made Corbyn supporters suspicious. This is what Labour said in August explaining why 50,000 applications were rejected.

There are currently approximately 129,000 registered supporters who will be able to vote in this contest. Out of the 183,000 applications to become a registered supporter (at a one off payment of £25), over 50,500 were rejected for technical reasons such as:

· Duplicate applications – for example, a number of people hit refresh multiple times on the final page or submitted a number of applications (for example, one person applied 117 times). These people were charged just once.

· People whose payment failed and who didn’t get back in touch with us by the deadline (Wednesday 27 July at 5pm).

· People who failed the electoral register check (once appeals are dealt with the main reason for these failing are due to people being under 18 years old or living abroad).

· People who are already affiliated supporters or eligible members.

Earlier I posted some pictures from Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign. Here are some pictures of Owen Smith’s campaign over the summer. As you can see, enthusiasm for Smith, at least according to the turnout metric, was somewhat more muted.

Smith holds a press conference in London on 5 September.
Smith holds a press conference in London on 5 September. Photograph: Dinendra Haria/Rex/Shutterstock
Smith addresses a rally in London on 10 September.
Smith addresses a rally in London on 10 September. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
Smith delivers a speech the Open University on 3 August in Milton Keynes.
Smith delivers a speech the Open University on 3 August in Milton Keynes. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
Smith addresses the first rally of his campaign at Friends’ Meeting House in Manchester on 22 July.
Smith addresses the first rally of his campaign at Friends’ Meeting House in Manchester on 22 July. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Updated

Turnout in leadership election 77.6%, Sky reports

According to Sky, turnout this year is 77.6%.

That is marginally up on 2015, when turnout was 76.3%.

Updated

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In August, as ballot papers startied going out, the Labour party released figures saying that 640,500 would be able to cast votes in the election. Here is the breakdown.

Party members - 343,500 (54% of the total electorate)

Affiliated supporters - 168,000 (26%; these are union members who have paid a fee to affiliate to Labour)

Registered supporters - 129,000 (20%; these are the people who paid £25 to become registered supporters).

The electorate is bigger than it was last year, when 554,000 people were eligible to vote.

Interestingly, however, the proportions of those entitled to vote were almost exactly the same: members had 53% of the votes, affiliated supporters 27% and registered supporters 20%.

But in 2015 registered supporters actually accounted for 25% of all votes cast because their turnout (93%) was higher than that of members (83.5%), and much higher than affiliated supporters (48.5%).

In 2015, affiliated supporters only accounted for 17% of votes cast, despite having 27% of the votes available. Members accounted for 58% of votes cast.

Updated

Corbyn's rallies - What do they show?

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words and, if you want to understand the nature of Jeremy Corbyn’s achievement over the summer, you really need to look at the photographs showing the remarkable crowds he has been attracting. Here are a few of them.

Jeremy Corbyn speaking at a #KeepCorbyn event at the Brighton Dome on September 13
Jeremy Corbyn speaking at a #KeepCorbyn event at the Brighton Dome on September 13 Photograph: Olivia Harris/Getty Images
Jeremy Corbyn arrives to speak to supporters at a leadership rally in Ramsgate.
Jeremy Corbyn arrives to speak to supporters at a leadership rally in Ramsgate. Photograph: Vickie Flores/Rex/Shutterstock
Corbyn speaking to supporters in Ramsgate.
Corbyn speaking to supporters in Ramsgate. Photograph: Vickie Flores/Rex/Shutterstock
Corbyn speaks at a rally at the Lowry theatre in Salford on 23 July.
Corbyn speaks at a rally at the Lowry theatre in Salford on 23 July. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
Corbyn addresses thousands in St George’s Square on 1 August in Liverpool.
Corbyn addresses thousands in St George’s Square on 1 August in Liverpool. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Corbyn addresses hundreds at Regency Square in Brighton.
Corbyn addresses hundreds at Regency Square in Brighton. Photograph: Julia Claxton/Barcroft Images
Corbyn at a campaign rally at Queen’s Gardens in Hull on 30 July.
Corbyn at a campaign rally at Queen’s Gardens in Hull on 30 July. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA
Supporters wave Corbyn posters during the public launch of his campaign to retain the leadership in Manchester on 23 July.
Supporters wave Corbyn posters during the public launch of his campaign to retain the leadership in Manchester on 23 July. Photograph: Neil Jones/PA

Quite what to make of these crowds, though, is another matter. It has become commonplace to point out that Michael Foot thought he might win the 1983 general election because of the vast crowds turning up to his rallies, only to discover on polling day that they were not representative of national opinion.

Andy Burnham made a similar point on the Today programme this morning. He said:

Whoever wins needs to be given time to get their message over to the public. That is what you have earned the right to do as leader of the Labour party. However, also it is the case that that leader, whoever it is, has to be able to show progress - progress with the public, progress at local elections, progress in the polls.

We cannot measure our success by the size of the membership or indeed the size of the rallies that we are holding. No-one gets the right to take Labour down to a devastating defeat.

In a New Statesman article this week my colleague John Harris also makes a good point about rallies, warning against the “John Peel fallacy”.

Those mass rallies by which Jeremy Corbyn sets such store could be the first stirrings of a social movement, some of which may play a part in an eventual left renaissance. But for now, they say nothing about Labour and the left’s basic predicament. (In its own way, in fact, the idea that they augur well for Corbyn’s electoral prospects is reminiscent of what I call the John Peel mistake. Circa 1969, the DJ wondered why one of his favourite albums was not in the charts: “Everyone I know’s got a copy,” he said. Back came the reply: “No – you know everyone who’s got a copy.”)

But on the Today programme this week Jeremy Corbyn claimed that the huge crowds attending his rallies were evidence that Labour could win a general election and that this would start to show at next year’s local elections. He said tens of thousands of people had attended his rallies over the summer. That showed there was a real “interest in politics”, he said. The crowds were “pretty diverse”, he went on, and quite different from the sort of people who used to turn up to hear him speak before he became Labour leader.

That then becomes, surely, a very strong campaigning basis for the Labour movement, becomes a campaigning factor in towns and cities where there’s never been very much activity before. That does begin to change the debate and national mood. I think you’ll begin to see that play out, particularly in local elections next year and after that.

I’ve been at political rallies all my life, of various sorts. What I find exciting and nice, but slightly depressing, is when I know half the people at the meeting I go to. I go to these events all over the country, and some of them, I don’t know anybody. I don’t know anybody at all, and they’re people who come up to me who say ‘I’ve never been involved in politics before, I’m interested in what you have to say, because I’m interested particularly in the economic argument that you have to rebalance society away from inequality towards equality’.

Updated

Here are two of the Labour stories around this morning that are worth reading.

The extent of the challenge facing Jeremy Corbyn if he is named Labour leader has been laid bare by a detailed study showing broad negative views of him among working-class voters.

Exclusive BMG Research polling for The Independent reveals almost half of the unskilled workers and manual labourers that Mr Corbyn needs in order to become Prime Minister believe him to be “out of touch” and an “election loser”.

More than a third thought him “incompetent” and “naive”, with middle-class voters sometimes holding slightly more positive views of the Labour leader.

But she is not going to fall into line behind Mr Corbyn. “Nothing has changed. Potentially it’s got worse because of some of the things that have happened during the campaign. At the moment I still can’t say that I have confidence in him.”

Some of the leader’s allies are suggesting that MPs should be deselected if they do not “kiss the ring” and declare their support for the leader. “If that is the attitude — that I have to do and say as I’m told — I won’t,” Ms Phillips says. “I will say and do as I think . . . My job is not to pander to Jeremy Corbyn.”

Although she still hopes that he can change, she thinks it is unlikely. “As of today I don’t think Jeremy Corbyn can win an election.” She has no time for the self-indulgence of those putting ideological purity before power. “If he is who the members want they will have to learn the harsh way that they’ve prioritised their own feelings of warmth over what’s best for the country. I used to be an eternal optimist but now I’m an eternal pragmatist. I have to accept that it’s not what keeps me warm at night that matters; it’s what keeps other people warm at night.”

Updated

Momentum, the pro-Corbyn group, is holding its own mini conference in Liverpool this week called The World Transformed. It describes itself as part of the conference fringe.

This morning it has announced that it has raised £10,000 through crowdfunding to support the event. It is hoping to raise another £20,000 to cover all its costs.

Mohammed Afridi, its director of finance, said:

The World Transformed is about bringing people together, and creating a space for voices marginalised in mainstream politics. The event has been organised entirely by 65 volunteers and is supported by unions such as the TSSA and the Fire Brigades Union.

By funding the festival through the generosity of those that have donated to our crowdfunding campaign, we have been able to offer a platform for the voices of individuals and organisations that would otherwise go unheard.

Updated

On Newsnight last night Lisa Nandy, who resigned from the shadow cabinet over the summer, said Jeremy Corbyn needed to “work as a team” with colleagues he did not always agree with if the Labour party was to unite. She told the programme:

A political party, a social movement, a shadow cabinet simply cannot survive if you refuse to hear dissenting voices and work as a team to try and resolve differences. Then it is not a shadow cabinet, it is quite simply just a fan club.

And here is some Twitter comment on the Andy Burnham interview.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

From the BBC’s Nick Robinson

From the Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff

Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary and Labour candidate for mayor of Greater Manchester, has been on the Today programme this morning. Essentially he was making the same argument that he made when he spoke to the Guardian yesterday; he is appealing for some form of truce.

Crucially, this would involve Corbyn effectively being on probation, because Burnham said the party should be able to review the leadership issue if Labour is not making progress, in the polls or in local elections, before the general election.

Here is our story.

And here is an extract.

Labour’s candidate to become the mayor of Greater Manchester said that if Corbyn won, then MPs should “serve on Corbyn’s frontbench and do so in the right spirit”.

But Burnham, who remained neutral during the leadership race, said Labour would only be able to heal if there were serious concessions from the leader as well.

He said the “quid pro quo” should be for Corbyn to stamp out all talk of deselections of MPs or councillors by any supporters, to take a zero-tolerance approach to abuse and to sign up to a deadline at which the Labour party would take stock of progress with the public, when it could readdress issues including those around the leadership.

Updated

At 11.45am the Labour party will announce the result of its leadership contest at its conference in Liverpool. Jeremy Corbyn is widely expected to win and, as we reported in our overnight lead, insiders are predicting that he will get 65% of the vote. That would be an even bigger win than last year when Corbyn got 59.5% of first preference votes. A result like this would be a big disappointment for Owen Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary who is challenging Corbyn and who, at the very least, hoped to make a dent in Corbyn’s lead.

Last night Corbyn issued a statement appealing for unity.

We must win the next general election so that Labour can rebuild and transform Britain – so that no one and no community is left behind. We can and must do that together.

That includes those who have voted, volunteered and campaigned for Owen Smith.

He also claimed that the election campaign had been “overwhelmingly respectful in tone”.

This summer, we have had a debate about the future of Labour and the future of Britain. It has been robust, and at times difficult, but it has been overwhelmingly respectful in tone.

That will surprise many whose view of the contest has been shaped by the abusive debate on social media. But just as David Cameron once correctly said that Twitter is not Britain, Twitter is not the Labour party either and, as reports like this one in the London Review of Books and this one by the Guardian’s Ewen MacAskill point out, the Corbyn supporters attending events generally have nothing in common with the angry Corbynites who have been spewing venom online. (There has also been some online abuse from anti-Corbynites, although generally it has been much harder to find.)

But nevertheless the division within the Labour party is real – quite possibly as deep as it has ever been – and Corbyn’s appeal for unity seems optimistic, to put it mildly. That’s because Labour increasingly looks like two parties: a leftist Corbyn faction, which is taking over the party at grassroots level and which rejects much of what Labour stood for when it was in office; and a centrist, parliamentary faction dominated by the 75% of MPs who backed a motion of no confidence in Corbyn because they think he is incapable of winning an election. The centrists believe the Corbynites are hopelessly naive, or even malign. The Corbynites think PLP-led Labour is discredited, reactionary, elitist and undemocratic. A marriage guidance counsellor would have given up trying to reconcile these two ages ago, but Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system makes launching a new party pointless and and so these two tribes who despair of each other seem condemned to co-exist.

The result of the leadership contest will be announced during Labour’s women’s conference. The main conference opens tomorrow and will run until Wednesday afternoon, when Corbyn will close the conference with a speech.

Inevitably the next five days will be dominated by reaction to Corbyn’s likely re-election. It has been said that the 60-odd frontbenchers who resigned over the summer because they lost confidence in Corbyn face a choice of “sulk or serve”, and we will start to find out who intends to return to the front bench, and who intends to carry on refusing to cooperate with Corbyn.

More generally, by Wednesday we will know whether Labour looks like a party that is beginning to reunite – or the fractures are continuing to deepen.

I’m in Liverpool and I am just heading off towards the conference centre now. I will post again around 9am.

If you want to follow or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments below the line but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

Updated

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