Labour Party UK members win right to vote in leadership contest

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Thursday, August 11, 2016

On Monday morning the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled the UK Labour Party's National Executive Committee (NEC) has no right to bar the — reportedly — around 130,000 members who joined the party after January 12 from voting in the party's leadership election this month. File:Labour Party rose.png

Labour Party UK logo
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)

This comes after an NEC decision last month that people who had not been members for six months at the time of the leadership election would have to pay a £25 registration fee to vote. The case was instigated by five people who were told even though they belonged to the party the new rules meant they weren't eligible to vote in this leadership election; they argued the decision to exclude them from the election was against labour party rules and a breach of contract. They have since announced they will appeal the ruling, despite Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell urging them not to.

The leadership contest is between incumbent leader Jeremy Corbyn, who lost a vote of no confidence motion within the parliamentary wing of his party 172–40, and MP (Member of Parliament) Owen Smith. Both candidates have been running campaigns to encourage more people to join the party and vote for them.

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