Labour leadership: Party to appeal voting rights ruling

**The Boss** · 8th August, 2016, 04:40 PM

Labour is challenging a High Court ruling giving recent members a vote in its leadership contest, with the appeal hearing expected on Thursday.
The party lost a legal challenge to its rules banning anyone who joined as a member after 12 January from taking part unless they paid an extra ?25.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell had urged Labour not to appeal the ruling.
But the party said it would defend the right of its governing NEC "to uphold the rule book".
The court's decision, handed down on Monday, could add anywhere between 126,592 and 150,000 people to the list of those eligible to vote in the contest - according to different estimates.
The ruling is thought likely to benefit leader Jeremy Corbyn over challenger Owen Smith.

A Labour spokesman said: "The Procedures Committee of the NEC has decided that the Labour Party will appeal this ruling in order to defend the NEC's right, as Labour's governing body, to uphold the rule book, including the use of freeze dates."
Mr Smith is calling for the leadership contest - due to end on 24 September - to be extended "so that all members have the opportunity to engage with Jeremy and me before making their choice".
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Media captionOwen Smith on Labour Party ruling Mr McDonnell, who is running Mr Corbyn's re-election campaign, had urged Labour not to appeal the judgement, saying it would be an "unnecessary and costly appeal".
"If it is taken forwards, the party will be using members' money to try to stop members from voting. This is unacceptable.
"I'm calling on Owen Smith to join with us in backing party members and calling on the Labour Party not to appeal and attempt to disenfranchise members."
Mr Smith said it would be up to Labour's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) to decide whether to press ahead with an appeal and it was not right for Mr McDonnell, or himself, to "interfere" in its decisions.
But he added: "Whatever the rules are I am just going to play by them and continue to make my case and at the end of this I am confident that I can persuade the Labour Party that I am the right man to lead us, not just in opposition, but into government."
A Labour spokesman said: "It is right that the Labour Party seeks to defend vigorously decisions of the National Executive Committee in this matter, and we will now study this judgement carefully."
Mr McDonnell said he accepted the decisions of the NEC "when they are in line with our democratic principles".

Analysis

By political correspondent Iain Watson

The judge was unequivocal - the five Labour members who had claimed they had been disenfranchised in the leadership contest had "wholly succeeded" in establishing their right to vote.
But the implications aren't as clear cut.
Certainly it's an administrative nightmare for Labour officials - they will have to send out something in the region of an extra 125,000 ballot papers in the next two weeks.
But the key question is who benefits?
The widespread assumption is that newer members are likely to be more sympathetic to Jeremy Corbyn - joining to help rescue his beleaguered leadership.
That's why a narrow majority of Labour NEC members introduced the six month rule at a controversial meeting in July when the leader had left the room.
But many of the "disenfranchised" are likely to have registered subsequently as supporters, gaining a vote by this route.
Owen Smith says he is happy with the outcome but the fact that the ruling was welcomed most warmly and swiftly by those close to Jeremy Corbyn is a big clue as to which side sees this as a victory.

The five members that brought the legal challenge argued the ban amounted to a breach of contract, saying they had "paid their dues" for a right to vote.
Ballot papers are due to be sent out on 22 August, with the outcome of the leadership election scheduled for 24 September.
The High Court case was triggered after the NEC decided that full members could only vote if they had at least six months' continuous membership up to July 12 - the "freeze date".
But the party offered a window from 18-20 July when they - and non-members - could pay ?25 to become "registered supporters" and gain the right to vote.

Labour leadership election timetable

22 August: Ballot papers start to be sent out in the post (Labour Party members only) and by email
21 September: Deadline for ballot papers to be returned is midday
24 September: The result will be announced at a special conference in Liverpool

Delivering his judgement, Mr Justice Hickinbottom said: "For the party to refuse to allow the claimants to vote in the current leadership election, because they have not been members since 12 January 2016, would be unlawful as in breach of contract."
The judge said at the time each of the five joined the party "it was the common understanding, as reflected in the rule book, that, if they joined the party prior to the election process commencing, as new members they would be entitled to vote in any leadership contest".
Kate Harrison, solicitor for the claimants, described it as "a good day for democracy", her clients and the Labour Party.
Under the terms of the judge's ruling, those who had paid ?25 to become a registered supporter could now claim their money back, she added.
Image caption Lawyer Kate Harrison said it was 'a good day for democracy' It is not known how many of the new members paid extra to get a vote in the contest.
Asked whether they should be refunded, a move that could cost the party several million pounds, Mr McDonnell said the NEC "will have to abide" by the court's decision.
Most observers believe the majority of new members will back Mr Corbyn - the odds on him winning the contest were slashed in the aftermath of the court ruling.
But Mr McDonnell said: "We don't know which way these members will vote. We can't tell.
"All I'm saying is, whatever way they vote it doesn't matter, what's important is allowing democracy to rule."
Crowdfunded challenge

Reacting to the ruling Edward Leir - one of the claimants - said the court's ruling was a "victory for equality and inclusion".
"This judgement is a vindication that the political process should be fair, democratic and inclusive; that political parties, like any other organisation, must uphold its rules fairly to those who support them," he added.
The others in the group - who have been crowdfunded and are seeking to raise ?40,000 to cover their legal costs - were Christine Evangelou, Hannah Fordham, Chris Granger and "FM", a new member aged under 18.

**GastonJ** · 8th August, 2016, 04:47 PM

At the end of the day all this hassle because some of teh MP's don't think that Corbyn is up to the job. He was elected leader by the 'party' that is teh people who will vote for them, and him, in an election - rather than 150 MP's . At the end of the day, whatever the MP's believe, it is those 10's of thousands of supporters who will decide who they believe in and who they'd like to see as next leader, and if possible next PM. After all if the MP's wanted Tony Blair as leader, do they really think the party members should support their view?