ALL four candidates for the UK Labour leadership will take part in one hustings north of the Border next month.
The Glasgow event on July 10 will be the only time the contenders face a Scots’ audience together and follows the party’s disastrous result at last month’s General Election.
Yesterday it emerged that veteran left-wing MP Jeremy Corbyn has won himself a place in the contest after securing enough nominations to get on the ballot.
Scotland’s only Labour MP Ian Murray denied reports he had nominated him.
Corbyn managed to pick up the necessary backing just two minutes before the noon deadline, helped by MPs who wanted to widen the range of candidates.
Candidates vying for a place required support from 35 MPs – 15 per cent of the total. Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall already had enough backers to go through to the leadership vote.
John McDonnell, Corbyn’s campaign manager, said in a tweet: “I can confirm that he is on the Labour leadership ballot paper with 35 nominations. Thank you everyone.”
Corbyn told BBC 2’s Daily Politics he “fully acknowledged” some of the nominations came from colleagues who did not support his candidacy, but who wanted to ensure a full debate.
“I will take part in that debate and hope that at the end of it the Labour Party emerges stronger and more resolute in opposing the principles behind austerity and impoverishment of the poorest in Britain,” he said.
Burnham topped the list with 68 nominations, followed by Cooper on 59, Kendall on 41 and Corbyn ended up with 36. A total of 28 Labour MPs did not nominate anybody.
Corbyn’s appearance on the ballot paper was criticised by Labour MP John Mann, who tweeted: “So to demonstrate our desire never to win again, Islington’s Jeremy Corbyn is now a Labour leadership candidate.”
But former shadow cabinet minister Sadiq Khan – who is running for the London mayor –said he would nominate Corbyn, without voting for him, to ensure the “widest possible debate”.
Corbyn and frontrunner Burnham, who visited Edinburgh last week, have both indicated they are open to discussions about the Scottish Labour party being given more autonomy as it prepares to fight next year’s Holyrood election. Cooper, however, dismissed the idea when she came north of the Border on a low key visit earlier this month during which she spoke to former Labour voters who had switched support for the SNP.
The Glasgow hustings will be among a series of public and televised debates over the coming weeks.
Voting will open in mid-August and close on 10 September, with the winner announced at the party’s autumn conference two days later.
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