Sir Keir Starmer faced renewed calls for Jeremy Corbyn to be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election on the first day of his party’s conference in Liverpool.
Some party delegates have forced a vote on the proposed rule change in an attempt to allow the MP for Islington North to be re-selected as a Labour candidate.
Supporters of the move say it would allow a constituency Labour Party (CLP) to be in control of who their candidate is rather than the parliamentary Labour Party.
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Mr Corbyn, Sir Keir’s predecessor, remains a party member but now sits as an independent MP having had the whip withdrawn due to his response to an Equality and Human Rights Commission report into antisemitism in the party.
Explaining the proposed change, supporter Peter Talbot, of Islington North CLP, said: “It will ensure that the parliamentary Labour Party cannot disqualify a sitting Labour MP from standing in an election by simply withdrawing the whip.”
He added: “We need a range of Labour candidates. We need to demonstrate that the Labour Party truly is a broad church. And that’s particularly important in relation to the thousands of young people that Jeremy brought into supporting Labour.
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“If we don’t change the rules and Jeremy can’t stand for Labour at the next election, well that would just be a disaster for us frankly, it would not end well.
“It would be a gift to the Greens, to the Lib Dems and the Tories.”
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Rachel Garnham, Mid Bedfordshire CLP, added that Labour would be “far better” going into a general election “as a united party rather than attempting to make Jeremy grovel”.
She continued: “Our political enemy is not Jeremy Corbyn.”
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Michael Wheeler, vice-chair of Labour’s national executive committee organisation subcommittee, said: “The rule change represents a significant legal risk to the party.”
She added: “To successfully defend legal claims the party must be able to show there it’s applying its rules consistently and fairly.
“Changing the fundamental rules midway through a parliamentary cycle leaves the party open to legal challenge from candidates that may be put at a disadvantage.”
A card vote on the proposal took place at the end of Sunday’s session in Liverpool.
