More than 15,000 join Labour party as full members in wake of Jeremy Corbyn victory

Senior party members hope more than 100,000 people who paid £3 to vote in leadership election will take next step

Jeremy Corbyn is announced as the new leader of the Labour Party at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre on 12 September 2015 (Getty)

Jeremy Corbyn’s landslide victory in Labour’s leadership election has sparked a rush of more than 15,000 people joining the party in the past 24 hours.

Labour’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, tweeted on Sunday morning that the party’s membership was now “over 325,000 and rising”.

More than 100,000 people paid £3 to join Labour as a “registered supporter” in the weeks building up to Saturday’s result, giving them the right to vote on the party’s next leader.

And appearing on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show, newly-elected deputy leader Tom Watson said he hoped many would take the next step to become full members.

“I hope they can come with us on the journey to the election in 2020,” Mr Watson said.

“Let's get these new members involved in campaigning, helping relay our roots in communities, being involved in a digital revolution in the party that allows members to feel that they're more included in the decisions we make.”

Mr MacNicol said yesterday that he looked forward to seeing new supporters "out on the doorsteps, alongside the members who've campaigned for years, or even decades".

"We know from the election in May how vital activism is. The disappointment of defeat weighs heavy in all our hearts."

Labour's membership also rose significantly in 2010 when Ed Miliband became leader, but slipped back before reforms to the party's structures such as voting rights.

Additional reporting by agencies