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Jeremy Corbyn claims he can ‘sweep Labour to power’ – but polls tell a different story

Labour is 14 points behind the Conservatives – a figure that would demolish the party at the next election

Tom Peck
Saturday 13 August 2016 19:39 BST
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The Labour leader speaks on top of a fire engine in Milton Keynes on Saturday
The Labour leader speaks on top of a fire engine in Milton Keynes on Saturday

Jeremy Corbyn this weekend told a rally in Milton Keynes that the Labour Party’s 500,000 strong membership can “sweep the party to power” at the next general election. He spoke in the wake of the Court of Appeal decision that 130,000 of the party’s newest members will not be allowed to vote in the forthcoming leadership election.

That decision has likely lessened Mr Corbyn’s chances of winning – but he remains the strong favourite. He claims his party’s new members are “full of energy and ideas” and will be a “major part” of his plans in government. But Labour is 14 points behind the Conservatives in the polls, at 28 per cent compared to 42 per cent – a figure that would demolish the party at the next election. His leadership opponent Owen Smith said that Labour may “disappear overnight” without change

The Court of Appeal ruling overturns the High Court victory for five Labour Party members who called for the 130,000 newcomers to be allowed to vote in the leadership election. Previously, Labour’s central body, the National Executive Committee, declared they were not. The five say they may take the decision to the Supreme Court. Mr Corbyn’s supporters took less than 24 hours to raise the £30,000 legal bill the five members had to foot. Mr Corbyn told his Milton Keynes audience that those excluded from voting could still help Labour into government.

“Using our mass membership we can organise within communities and communicate with voters in a more effective way than ever before,” he said. “With over half a million members, Labour can be at the heart of every community in Britain and win the next general election.

”That movement contains new energy, new ideas and it's a major part of our plan for government.“

Mr Smith said political parties take ”a long, long time to rise, but history tells us they can disappear very, very quickly – they can disappear overnight.”

“And right now it feels to me as though we are needed as never before,” he said.

Mr Smith has vowed that, should he win, he will fight to keep the UK within the European Union. But he has also made much of Labour’s need to regain favour in crucial marginal areas “like Nuneaton and Kingswood”. Both these areas voted for Brexit.

The morning after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Mr Corbyn, who had campaigned for Remain, called for Article 50 to be triggered “straight away”. Mr Smith said Labour must hold the Government to account throughout its Brexit negotiations, but accepted it will not deliver what its architects promised.

“It will not be a simple set of trade deals, it will not be an end to immigration, it will not be more money for public services – none of those things will come to pass,” he said.

And at the end of this we should have the courage to say to the British people, if it isn't what you wanted then we would put it back to you – either as a second referendum or at a general election.“

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