OWEN Smith has received a morale boost in his race for the Labour leadership with an opinion poll showing he has majority support among members of the public.
But the snapshot poll will, for many, underline the party’s dilemma as it also shows Jeremy Corbyn enjoys by far the largest amount of support among Labour voters.
According to the BMG Research online survey of more than 1,500 people, Mr Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary, is placed ahead of the Islington MP by a margin of 57 per cent to 43 with the general public.
But the findings also show the Pontypridd MP still has considerable ground to make up among Labour supporters, who favour the party leader by 75 per cent to 25.
Party members, affiliates and registered supporters – a combined electorate of about 600,000 – are eligible to vote in the contest on September 24.
The poll details for the London Evening Standard came as Mr Corbyn successfully saw off a legal attempt to prevent him from taking part in the Labour leadership race.
The bid by a party donor was denounced by the leader as a “waste of time and resources”.
The legal action was brought by Michael Foster, who claimed Labour rules had been “misapplied” when the party’s national executive committee (NEC) voted by a majority of 18 to 14 to give Mr Corbyn an automatic place on the ballot paper without needing to obtain the backing of 20 per cent of Labour MPs and MEPs; 51 nominations.
Given that the party leader had lost a vote of no confidence among his MPs by 172 votes to 40, then Mr Corbyn might have had difficulty in getting the necessary number of nominations if he had had to.
Mr Corbyn said in a statement: “I welcome the decision by the High Court to respect the democracy of the Labour Party. This has been a waste of time and resources when our party should be focused on holding the Government to account.”
He argued that there should have never been a question of the right of some 500,000 party members to choose their own leader being overturned. If anything, he suggested, the aim should have been to expand the number of voters in this election.
“I hope all candidates and supporters will reject any attempt to prolong this process and that we can now proceed with the election in a comradely and respectful manner,” declared Mr Corbyn.
Mr Foster brought the case against the party’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, who was sued in a representative capacity, as well as Mr Corbyn.
Following the court’s decision, Mr McNicol said he was delighted that the court had upheld the authority and decision of the NEC.
Mr Smith, the MP for Pontypridd, said he too was pleased with the court ruling, noting that it “puts to bed any questions about the process, so we can get on with discussing the issues that really matter”.
Meanwhile, the BMG Research showed 57 per cent of people surveyed felt Labour under Mr Corbyn’s leadership was failing to provide proper opposition to the Conservative government; some 16 per cent disagreed. Even among Labour supporters, 44 per cent thought the party was failing to provide an effective opposition compared to only 38 per cent, who said it was.
BMG’s Michael Turner said: “All the evidence suggests that Labour would be far more electable under Mr Smith. People, who currently would not vote for the party but say they may consider it, are far more in favour of a party led by him. He is also more attractive to current Liberal Democrat and Ukip supporters.
But he added that Mr Corbyn was still “hugely more popular” Labour supporters.
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