Corbyn says he is not going anywhere after a move to formally oust him as a Labour candidate, and neither is his “determination to stand up for a better world”
By Amber Allott
Updated 28th Mar 2023, 13:28 BST
Labour’s ruling body has approved Sir Keir Starmer’s motion to prevent Jeremy Corbyn running to be an MP for the party at the next election, a spokesman has said.
The current Labour leader proposed the motion to a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday (27 March). Starmer first ruled out the left-wing veteran standing again for Labour last month, as he insisted the party had undergone a transformation under his leadership.
The motion, which passed 22-12, said the Islington North MP “will not be endorsed by the NEC as a candidate on behalf of the Labour Party at the next general election”, expected in around 18 months’ time.
A senior Labour source told PA: “Keir Starmer has made clear that Jeremy Corbyn won’t be a Labour candidate at the next general election. The Labour Party now is unrecognisable from the one that lost in 2019.
“Tuesday’s vote will confirm this and ensure we can focus on our five missions to build a better Britain,” they said.
Corbyn released a statement in response on social media, which said: “Today, Keir Starmer has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations of our Party.
“I have been elected as the Labour MP for Islington North on 10 consecutive occasions since 1983. I am proud to represent a community that supports vulnerable people, joins workers on the picket line and fights for transformative change,” he said.
Corbyn continued: “I joined the Labour Party when I was 16 years old because, like millions of others, I believed in a redistribution of wealth and power.
“Our message is clear: we are not going anywhere. Neither is our determination to stand up for a better world,” he said.
Starmer initially ruled out Corbyn from standing again for Labour after the announcement that the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s had decided to lift the party out of two years of special measures over its failings on antisemitism under Corbyn.
He is currently sitting in the Commons as an independent, after he was suspended from the parliamentary party over his response to the damning EHRC report in 2020 which found that Labour had broken equalities law. The MP would be left with the option of running as an independent candidate in the seat.
Top picture: Former Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard pictured with Jeremy Corbyn.
Well, with a Tory like Sir Keir Stammer in charge, and make no mistake he is a Tory in tooth and claw, a promoter of privatisation and corporate expansion, you can see why people like Jeremy Corbyn are ditched.