I am prepared to take suggestions and ideas, and have a conversation and to try and build consensus. He said: 'These rules won't be presented on a take it or leave it basis. Other changes proposed by Sir Keir include reforms of the reselection process and a shake-up of the policy-making process. Let's respect our members, let's respect party democracy.' 'The members are ultimately the party and they should equally elect their leader,' she said. Richard Burgon, secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, said a return to the electoral college system would 'treat members with contempt and must be rejected as anti-democratic'.įrontbencher Rachael Maskell also criticised the plans, saying that as an MP she should have 'no greater say' than other party members. 'It's time to stop attacking Labour members' democratic rights – and take the fight to the Tories.' Mr Corbyn said: 'Removing the current system of electing Labour's leader – again reducing the members' vote to one third while increasing the vote of MPs to one third – would be deeply undemocratic. The move to reduce the weight of members' votes has sparked fury on the Labour left. The Labour leader is understood to favour the three parts of the electoral college having an equal share of the vote. 'These are two things that have got to change if we are serious about winning the next election.' 'Our rules as they are right now focus us inwards to spend too much time talking to and about ourselves, and they weaken the link with our unions,' Sir Keir said.
Sir Keir has briefed the shadow cabinet on his plans and will set them out to trade union leaders tomorrow. Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir's predecessor as leader who currently sits as an independent MP, labelled the proposed changes 'deeply undemocratic' The 'one member, one vote' system was instrumental in Mr Corbyn winning the party leadership in 2015 and then winning the subsequent leadership challenge against him in 2016 as left-wing activists rallied behind him to keep him in power.Ī row over the leadership election proposals is now likely to overshadow the Labour Party's annual conference which is due to start in Brighton this weekend. Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir's predecessor as leader who currently sits as an independent MP, labelled the proposed changes 'deeply undemocratic'. The shake-up was immediately condemned by left-wing party activists who have accused Sir Keir of launching a 'bureaucratic attack' and vowed to fight the move. The proposals would see a return to unions, MPs and party members being split into respective categories, with each being responsible for one third of the result. Sir Keir wants to scrap the current 'one member, one vote' system and replace it with a version of the electoral college system which was previously used by the party. Sir Keir Starmer has sparked a new Labour civil war after unveiling plans to radically overhaul the way the party chooses its leader.
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