Talking to the Furious New Labour Party Members Who Can No Longer Vote in the Leadership Election

In the weeks since the EU referendum, at least 100,000 people have joined the Labour Party, most of them looking to have a say about the future leadership of the party. Some are trying to shore up Corbyn's support, while others have joined up to vote for an alternative: either Angela Eagle or Owen Smith.

Whether they're rebels or loyalists, the size of Labour's membership is unprecedented in contemporary British politics. It now has at least three times as many members as the Conservatives, and, until this week, those numbers were rising all the time.

The NEC, Labour's administrative body, met on Tuesday, and the lead item on the agenda was whether Corbyn should automatically be on the ballot without having to seek the signatures of 51 MPs that his contenders needed. They eventually decided that he should. But after Corbyn left the meeting they made changes to who would be allowed to vote. They decided the party members who joined in the past six months would be disqualified from having a say in this leadership election (despite being promised one when they joined up). They also raised the price of joining as a "supporter" and getting a vote in the leadership election, from £3 to £25.

We spoke to some new Labour party members to find out how they feel about that. Spoiler alert: not great.

VICE: When did you join the Labour party?
Chad: A few days after the referendum. I wasn't a member when Corbyn was running and I didn't really cave in but this time I really wanted to make sure that I had a vote. You saw the referendum, you saw the remain side kind of lost it because lots of people didn't bother voting. And I didn't want that happening again, especially with something that I cared about.

Why is this leadership election important?
We need an effective opposition that holds the government to account. It really doesn't look like Corbyn will ever win. It also doesn't seem like him and Momentum are interested in that. It's not enough to be a far-left pressure group, which the majority of people just do not want.

What do you think makes Corbyn ineffective?
He's threatening to de-select MPs that disagree with him. I don't believe that's leadership. You lead with respect, you don't lead with an iron fist. It looks like something a lot more sinister. It seems so hypocritical as well coming from someone who has rebelled literally hundreds of times. He's struggling to find enough MPs to work with him in Shadow Cabinet. It looks as though he thinks keeping his job is more important than keeping a full and capable shadow cabinet and I don't get how you can defend that. It's not leadership.

So how do you feel that you won't be able to vote?
It did annoy me a little about the change. I do think it's undemocratic even though it could be benefit my point of view. It also just doesn't feel legally right. When I joined, it clearly said when you sign up that £3 membership, you'll help you vote in the new direction. It doesn't feel right to me, to change the rules. What's going to happen to my £3? Will I get a refund? I have no idea.

If you had voted, would you have voted for Eagle?
I don't like Corbyn in the role but I don't see how Angela can win, which is a bit of a shame. I don't think there's any opposition to the Tories right now. People I've spoken to, they cannot imagine Corbyn as prime minister, even people that vote Labour. People on my Facebook timeline who were once very pro-Corbyn, seem to have gone quiet. It just seems he keeps losing the public support. The only way to hold the Tories to account is to be potential winners.

VICE: Why did you join the Labour party?
Raf: I joined pretty much as soon they announced there was going to be another leadership election. I was on it! Like ran. I only joined to vote for Jeremy Corbyn, someone who I respect admire, whose politics I think I needed from the Labour Party. I haven't supported the Labour fully for quite a long time. Parliamentary politics and Labour wasn't something I identified with anymore, especially since the last election.

So how did you feel when you found out you wouldn't be able to join?
I was fuming but I shouldn't really have been surprised because the Labour Party and the NEC will do anything they can to stop Corbyn winning. It's just a ploy to keep him out. It's undemocratic. My plan was to literally join, vote for him, then leave! Now I'm thinking I might stay simply because I feel like I need to get more involved.

Do you feel like Labour are taking your involvement for granted?
I feel like the Labour Party are very ungrateful. They have got all these new members because of the new direction people think that they're going in and they keep on consistently not listening and disregarding their members. They saying: we don't think your opinions are valid and that these 21 or so officials should have more say than tens of thousands of people. To do that, for a party like Labour and to take the registration up to £25, it's ridiculous and it just shows they're not committed to what the Party stood for in the beginning.

VICE: What needs to happen for Labour to win the next election?
The only thing stopping the party getting to where it needs to be is the MPs trying to get him out, the Blairites and Eagle, who are useless.

VICE: What spurred you to join Labour?
The EU referendum result. The country had spoken and despite the result not being the one I'd wanted, I believed it was time for the country to come together and move forward after the divisions caused by the vote. I see us younger voters as more liberal, inclusive, tolerant and forward-thinking. Jeremy has given a disillusioned generation an interest in politics again, I planned to vote for him in the next election so when his position was under threat, I joined in a show of support for him.

What do you think about Eagle? She claims she'll provide better leadership than Corbyn.
I'd never heard of her before and still I'm no closer to knowing anything about her, I thought if they were serious about ousting Corbyn, they could've found a better challenger. Her own constituency voted to leave, and she blames Corbyn for not delivering the remain vote. Not to mention she voted for the rise in tuition fees and she was in favour for the Iraq war.

So are you going to quit now?
I won't end my membership because of the change in voting yet. It does make me question the motives of those who made that decision though. If Jeremy is defeated and the party goes back to the centre of politics, I'll consider leaving.

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