Corbyn backed to run for Labour at next election

JEREMY CORBYN has been backed by local party members to run as the Labour candidate in his north London constituency at the next election.

The former party leader, who currently sits as an independent, was blocked from standing as a Labour MP by Sir Keir Starmer earlier this year.

But last night party delegates in Islington North passed a motion expressing that it was their “democratic right” to select the candidate they wanted to fight the next election. The motion, which thanked the veteran MP for “his commitment and service to the people”, passed with 60 votes and one abstention. Afterwards, Mr Corbyn, right, said: “I love my job and I want to carry on doing it.”

This morning he told the Standard: “Today I’m focused on doing what I’ve done for the past 40 years. Campaigning to end poverty, homelessness and inequality on behalf of the people of Islington North.” A Labour party source said the vote held “no weight at all”. Labour’s national executive committee in March approved a motion from Sir Keir to prevent Labour endorsing Mr Corbyn as a candidate. It stated that allowing him to stand would “significantly diminish” Labour’s chances of “winning the next general election”.

Mr Corbyn claimed Sir Keir had “launched an assault on the rights of his own Labour members, breaking his pledge to build a united and democratic party”.

Mr Corbyn has since hinted that he may stand as an independent in the constituency he has represented since

1983 and there are rumours he could run to be Mayor of London. He led Labour to defeat in the 2017 and 2019 general elections, but has remained popular on the Left.