Women’s vote helps Corbyn to second victory

POLITICAL EDITOR JEREMY Corbyn was re-elected with an even bigger mandate than last year after receiving the overwhelming backing of women, expert pollsters believe.

According to an exit poll carried out by YouGov, 64 per cent of women taking part in the contest backed Mr Corbyn over Owen Smith. Labour sources attributed it to a series of “sexist” comments made by Mr Smith, the MP for Pontypridd, during the course of the leadership campaign.

Mr Smith faced criticism after saying that he wanted to “smash” Theresa May “back on her heels”. “He was seen as having a woman problem,” one Labour source said. “He just wasn’t the right candidate to take on Jeremy.”

In total, Mr Corbyn took 313,209 votes against Mr Smith’s 193,229, 61.8 per cent of the vote. His total tally of votes was up more than 60,000 on 2015, when he was elected as successor to Ed Miliband. It puts him in a stronger position than ever before and leaves any moderates looking to topple him ahead of the next general election with a mountain to climb.

Mr Corbyn increased his share of the vote and got a majority in all three sectors of the party’s electorate – full members, supporters from affiliated bodies such as trade unions and registered supporters who paid a £25 fee to vote.

Labour insiders said that one of the main reasons for Mr Corbyn’s success Savouring victory: Jeremy Corbyn is mobbed by photographers after the vote was that his team had in the past year studiously signed up full members, the largest section of the electorate. Mr Corbyn led Mr Smith by 168,216 (59 per cent) to 116,960 (41 per cent) among full members. In the first round of voting last year, Mr Corbyn did not have a majority of support in this sector.

Mr Corbyn also had a significant lead among the registered supporters, with 84,918 (70 per cent) of the votes, compared to Mr Smith’s 36,599 (30 per cent). Among the union affiliates, Mr Corbyn took 60,075 (60 per cent) to Mr Smith’s 39,670 (40 per cent).

The 285,176 fully paid-up members made up more than half of the votes cast. Some 121,517 registered supporters took part – 24 per cent of the total eligible ballots – while 99,745 votes were cast by affiliates.