Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
This is from ITV’s Paul Brand.
Labour’s NEC meets at 12 to decide leadership rules:
– Rebecca Long-Bailey not taking her seat on NEC to keep powder dry, confirming she intends to stand
– Which also begs Q… will Ian Lavery go?
– NEC insiders tell me they have one line agenda, nobody knows how long it’ll last
These are from Alice Perry, a local government representative on Labour’s national executive committee. One of the key issues to be decided at today’s NEC meeting is what the arrangements will be for registered supporters to vote in the leadership contest. Under the rules introduced when Ed Miliband was leader, registered supporters can vote, as well as proper party members and people who are affiliated to the party through membership of a trade union. But the NEC will have to decide how much people will have to pay to vote as a registered supporter, and how long they will get to register.
In 2015, the fee was just £3. People in the party were not sure how popular the scheme would be, but more than 100,000 people ended up registering. In 2016, the fee was set at £25 and registration was open for just 48 hours, but 120,000 people registered anyway. At the time Corbynites on the NEC were worried about the registered supporters scheme being exploited by Owen Smith supporters, but in the event 70% of the people who signed up in the 48-hour window voted for Jeremy Corbyn.
People on Twitter discussing possible price for Registered Supporters. £3 was far too low and caused problems. Anything from £10-£30 works. The higher price in the last leadership election didn’t deter people from registering. (Affiliated trade union members can vote for free)
I don’t know what fee will be suggested for Registered supporters at tomorrow’s NEC meeting. I’ll support anything reasonable (between £10-30?) and would not support £3 because I don’t want loads of Tories registering or people signing up their pets for lols.