Jeremy Corbyn BANNED from standing as Labour MP at next election as Starmer tells his supporters to quit too

Sir Keir Starmer has said Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour Party candidate at the next election as he issues a challenge to the hard-left Labour MPs who oppose his plans for government.

The Labour Party leader delivered a speech on Wednesday as the party was taken out of special measures over antisemitism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The watchdog said it is no longer monitoring Labour after it made the changes demanded over its law-breaking handling of antisemitism under Jeremy Corbyn.

Starmer says the changes he has made to the party are “permanent, fundamental, irrevocable” and members should either back him or leave the party.

Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for the Labour Party at the next election
Jonathan Brady

Asked by reporters whether he could say “categorically” whether or not his predecessor Corbyn will stand for the party at the next election, Starmer said: “Let me be very clear about that: Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour at the next general election, as a Labour Party candidate.

“What I said about the party changing, I meant, and we are not going back, and that is why Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election.”

The commission’s investigation found that Labour had breached equalities legislation in areas including the “unlawful harassment” of Jewish members, political interference in the handling of complaints and a lack of adequate training.

It identified 23 occasions where Corbyn's office or other Labour Party staff had probed directly with complaints and said there was a culture that “at best did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and at worst could be seen to accept it”.

Corbyn was suspended from the parliamentary party over his response to the damning report in 2020.

On Wednesday, Starmer issued a warning to the people in the party who "don't like the changes that we have made" as he demanded that they either back him or leave the party.

He said: "The Labour party is unrecognisable from 2019 and it will never go back. It will never again be a party captured by narrow interest. It will never again lose sight of its purpose or its morals and it will never again be brought to its knees by racism or bigotry.

"If you don't like that, if you don't like the chanages that we have made, I say the door is open and you can leave."

Starmer has warned that anyone who opposes his plans for government can leave the party
Jonathan Brady

During his speech he also vowed to drive out anti-Jewish racism and apologised to "all those who were hurt" as he described antisemitism is “an evil”.

“It’s taken many, many months of hard work and humility to get here," he said.

“It’s meant rebuilding trust, not just with the Jewish community but with all those who were rightly appalled by the culture of the party and the previous leadership.

“When I became leader, I said I would turn Labour around and give it back to the British people, and the most important and urgent part of that was tearing out antisemitism by its roots.

“Antisemitism is an evil and no political party that cultivates it deserves to hold power.”