Labour launches seek for election candidate to interchange Jeremy Corbyn

Labour has kick-started the process to select a general election candidate to replace Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North.

It comes after the ex-Labour leader, who has had the whip suspended since 2020, was last year barred from standing as a candidate for the party for the first time since 1983.

The Mirror understands Labour opened applications on Wednesday for those wishing to run as a parliamentary candidate in Islington North at the general election. Candidates will be shortlisted next week before the ballot closes on June 1.

Mr Corbyn has been sitting in the Commons as an independent after he was suspended over his response to the damning Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report in 2020 which found Labour had broken equalities law.

Last year the National Executive Committee – Labour’s governing body – approved a motion proposed by Keir Starmer not to endorse his predecessor. Mr Starmer also said last year: “Jeremy Corbyn does not sit as a Labour MP and will not be a candidate at the next election for the Labour party.”

Mr Corbyn, who remains a Labour member, is yet to announce whether he will run as an independent in Islington North – a seat his last won with a majority of over 26,000. Such a move risks the former leader being expelled from the party.

Last year he hinted at his future, saying: “I will not be intimidated into silence. I have spent my life fighting for a fairer society on behalf of the people of Islington North, and I have no intention of stopping now.” He claimed Mr Starmer had “launched an assault on the rights of his own Labour members, breaking his pledge to build a united and democratic party that advances social, economic and climate justice”.