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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Labour's appeal on leadership vote to be heard | Labour's appeal on leadership vote to be heard |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Labour's appeal against the decision to give recent members a vote in the party's leadership contest will be heard in the Court of Appeal later. | Labour's appeal against the decision to give recent members a vote in the party's leadership contest will be heard in the Court of Appeal later. |
| The High Court upheld a legal challenge to its ruling banning anyone who joined the party after 12 January from voting unless they paid an extra £25. | The High Court upheld a legal challenge to its ruling banning anyone who joined the party after 12 January from voting unless they paid an extra £25. |
| If Labour's appeal fails the new joiners will increase the electorate in the contest to about half a million. | If Labour's appeal fails the new joiners will increase the electorate in the contest to about half a million. |
| Owen Smith is challenging Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to take over as leader. | Owen Smith is challenging Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to take over as leader. |
| The case will be heard at the Court of Appeal from 10:30 BST and will be live streamed on television. It is unclear whether judges will reach a decision today or announce it at a later date. | |
| Mr Corbyn and Mr Smith will go head-to-head at a hustings in Gateshead in Tyne and Wear at 19:00 BST. | |
| The BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson said it was a measure of the mutual distrust between those who support and those who oppose Jeremy Corbyn that controversial decisions were now settled in the courts, and not within the party. | The BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson said it was a measure of the mutual distrust between those who support and those who oppose Jeremy Corbyn that controversial decisions were now settled in the courts, and not within the party. |
| On Monday Mr Justice Hickinbottom ruled that the party had breached its contract with new members by retrospectively disenfranchising them. | On Monday Mr Justice Hickinbottom ruled that the party had breached its contract with new members by retrospectively disenfranchising them. |
| Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who is running Mr Corbyn's re-election campaign, previously claimed the decision to appeal had been taken by a "small clique" that opposed the Labour leader and warned it could cost the party "hundreds of thousands of pounds". | Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who is running Mr Corbyn's re-election campaign, previously claimed the decision to appeal had been taken by a "small clique" that opposed the Labour leader and warned it could cost the party "hundreds of thousands of pounds". |
| BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman says that's while it's difficult to be precise, the cost is more likely to be in the "low tens of thousands". | |
| Mr Smith said it was up to the party's National Executive Committee to decide whether to appeal and it was not right for Mr McDonnell, or himself, to "interfere" in its decisions. | |
| 'NEC should decide' | |
| Lord Falconer, who quit as shadow justice secretary in the wave of resignations by the shadow cabinet, defended the party's right to appeal. | |
| He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's for the NEC to decide what the rules are of any contest. | |
| "If the result of this High Court litigation is that it's the courts who decide the detail of how an election is going to be fought, then there are going to be even more High Court hearings because everybody who doesn't like a ruling of the NEC is going to go to the High Court." | |
| He stressed that Labour has "got to unify" once the leadership result is returned, and said he would back whoever wins. | |
| The original High Court case was triggered after the NEC decided that full members could only vote if they had at least six months' continuous membership up to July 12 - the "freeze date". | The original High Court case was triggered after the NEC decided that full members could only vote if they had at least six months' continuous membership up to July 12 - the "freeze date". |
| The party offered a window from 18-20 July when more recent members - and non-members - could pay £25 to become "registered supporters" and gain the right to vote. | The party offered a window from 18-20 July when more recent members - and non-members - could pay £25 to become "registered supporters" and gain the right to vote. |
| The five members who brought the legal challenge argued the ban amounted to a breach of contract, saying they had "paid their dues" for a right to vote. | The five members who brought the legal challenge argued the ban amounted to a breach of contract, saying they had "paid their dues" for a right to vote. |
| The BBC's Iain Watson says that privately both Mr Corbyn and Mr Smith believe most recent members are more supportive of the current leader than his challenger. | The BBC's Iain Watson says that privately both Mr Corbyn and Mr Smith believe most recent members are more supportive of the current leader than his challenger. |
| Labour leadership election timetable | Labour leadership election timetable |