Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership vote

Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected leader of the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party on Saturday, storming to victory over challenger Owen Smith with an increased mandate from party members.

The vote will strengthen Corbyn’s authority over the divided party. Labour members voted 61.8 percent to 38.2 percent in favour of Corbyn — increasing his share of the vote from the 59.5 percent he secured last year.

Out of 654,006 Labour members eligible to vote, 506,438 cast their votes.

Corbyn struck an emollient tone in his acceptance speech he has delivered in Liverpool ahead of the party’s conference. He paid tribute to his rival and said that while the party’s internal debate would continue, all of its members and MPs were part of one “Labour family.”

“I will do everything I can to repay the trust and the support, to bring our party together, to make it an engine of progress for our country and the people who depend on the Labour party to protect their interests and deliver real change in this country,” he said.

Smith congratulated his rival, but warned of persisting divisions in the party and a mountain to climb before it can defeat the ruling Conservatives.  It’s Corbyn’s task “to heal those divisions and to unite our movement,” he said in a statement.

“We have to turn round our dire opinion poll ratings and take on this right-wing, failing Tory Government,” Smith said. “Jeremy has won this contest. He now has to win the country and he will have my support in trying to do so.”

Many of Corbyn’s opponents in Labour’s senior ranks issued calls for unity, including former front-bencher and one-time leadership hopeful Chuka Umunna.

“We all have to come together…we’ve had the result, this has drawn a line and we have to move forward,” he told the BBC.

Corbyn hailed the growth of the party membership, which has almost tripled since the 2015 election to more than 600,000. It was largely due to enthusiasm for his anti-establishment, left-wing message, he said, adding that the new activists would take the Labour message to “every community in the country.”

He appeared to have offered an olive branch to his critics by addressing the allegations of intimidation and abuse within the party, which Corbyn’s critics linked to some of his supporters among the party’s new members.

“Politics is demeaned and corroded by intimidation and abuse,” he said. “It’s not my way and it’s not the Labour way and never will be,” Corbyn said.

Source: politico.eu