Labour party officers of Islington North Constituency have “rejected” a successful motion by the National Executive Committee (NEC) officially banning Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a candidate for the party at next general election and exiling him from the party he once led.
In a statement published on Twitter, Islington North CLP Officers said they “rejected” the NEC vote, and “strongly supported” a February 2020 statement from Sir Keir Starmer in which he said ‘Local Party members should select their candidates for every election.’”
The group said: “We believe in the democratic right of all constituency parties to choose their prospective parliamentary candidate. Therefore, we reject the NEC’s undue interference in Islington North, which undermines our goal of defeating the Conservatives and working with our communities for social justice.”
In a vote of 22 to 12 on Tuesday, the National Executive Committee (NEC) approved the motion brought by Starmer to prevent his predecessor from reselection as the party’s candidate in the constituency he has represented for 40 years.
— Islington North Labour Party (@IslingtonNorth) March 28, 2023
Ahead of the vote, Corbyn accused Starmer of “undermining the party’s internal democracy.”
In a statement on Monday, Corbyn said: "Today, Keir Starmer has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations of our Party.
“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."
The Islington North MP has sat as an independent since he lost the whip in October 2020 after he largely rejected the findings of an Equality and Human Rights Commission report that found Labour responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination under his watch.
Responding to the finding, Corbyn claimed antisemitism had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons.”
According to a recent poll of potential voters by Savanta, 55 per cent of respondents said they believed Starmer made the right decision, with less than half that number, only 23 per cent, believing the decision to be wrong.
