The LAB leadership election results WILL be broken down by how the different categories have voted
Pleased the Procedures Committee have agreed to break down Lab leadership results by Member, Affiliated Supporter & Registered Supporter.
— Johanna Baxter (@JohannaBaxter) August 26, 2015
This is a change that could destabilise Leader Corbyn
The tweet above represents a big change of mind by Labour on how it will announce the results on September 12th. Initially the plan had not been to give separate figures for the three different types of voter. Now these will be provided.
The Tweet is from a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee. Its Procedures Committee is overseeing the election and is made up of several key figures including the General Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth MP and Margaret Beckett MP who was the stand-in leader after John Smith died in 1994.
The decision to provide a full breakdown could be important if one of the three sections of the electorate votes in a different way from the others.
It will be recalled that after the 2010 election Ed Miliband’s position was undermined by the fact that his support disproportionately came from trade unionists. The election rules were different then but it will be remembered that David Miliband was the choice of the party’s MPs as well as the membership at large.
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From the limited polling data that has been published it is clear that Corbyn is doing significantly better with the £3 voters and trade union supporters than he is with the ordinary members.
Of course the legitimacy of the result will depend on the overall outcome. But this could just provide the ammunition for those who might want to question Mr Corbyn’s position should he, as seems likely, is elected in two and half weeks time.