Corbyn gets big cheers at festival

BRITAIN: British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has been given a rock star reception at the Glastonbury Festival, telling a headliner-sized crowd that millions of young people who voted for him would not be silenced or sidelined.

Dismissed as a Left-wing nohoper before elections on June 8, Corbyn attracted a surge of support from 18-24 year-olds that helped his Labour Party deny Prime Minister Theresa May a parliamentary majority.

The 68-year old’s popularity at Worthy Farm in southwest England on Saturday could be measured by the number of pro-Corbyn banners on display and Corbyn T-shirts. They easily outnumbered those for the biggest names on the musical bill Radiohead, Foo Fighters and Ed Sheeran - and the chant ‘‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’’ rang round the world’s biggest greenfield festival.

Appearing between British singer-songwriter Craig David and US rap act Run The Jewels, Corbyn - who promised during campaigning to abolish tuition fees - said he was proud to have led Labour into an election that delivered the biggest increase in the party’s support since 1945.

‘‘But what was even more inspiring was the number of young people who got involved for the very first time because they were fed up with being denigrated, fed up with being told they don’t matter (and) fed up with being told they never participate,’’ he said to cheers from the crowd. ’’And that politics that got out of the box isn’t going back into the box.’’

Corbyn, invited to speak on the famous stage by festival founder Michael Eavis, said Glastonbury was about people coming together in support of causes like environmentalism.

‘‘There is only one planet - not even Donald Trump believes there is another planet somewhere else,’’ he said. - Reuters