The battle for the Labour leadership was becoming increasingly fraught yesterday as allies of Jeremy Corbyn expressed concerns that more than a quarter of new supporters who signed up to the party could be prevented from voting.

Backers of the Labour leader, who faces a challenge from Owen Smith, say 40,000 of the 183,000 people who joined as registered supporters in recent weeks, paying £25 for the chance to vote, have been disqualified by Labour, with another 10,000 referred to a scrutiny committee.



Party officials insist it is too early to tally any numbers and say that if people are denied a vote it is generally for administrative reasons, for example, their application does not tally with the electoral register, or they can already vote by another means such as trade union affiliation.

However, potential electors can also be disqualified if it is found they actively support another party. Those close to Corbyn say they fear many of those denied a vote are being weeded out for political reasons. “It’s definitely a worry,” one ally said.

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Diane Abbott, a key ally of Corbyn and shadow health secretary, said the leader’s opponents must realise that the membership has moved to the left. Writing in the Guardian on Tuesday, she said: “The idea that the new members are a phantom army who will melt away if only Corbyn can be forced out of the leadership is a delusion put about by his enemies.



“Like [Bernie] Sanders, the left insurgency Corbyn is associated with is not about one man or a cult of personality. The insurgency on both sides of the Atlantic is about millions of people realising that ‘a better way is possible’ and wanting to move beyond neoliberalism. That realisation is not going away.”

Corbyn remains the strong favourite to defeat Smith. However, allies of the challenger argue the race could be closer than expected. Saving Labour, an anti-Corbyn alliance, released figures on Tuesday claiming that 70,000 of the new registered supporters arrived on the Labour website having clicked through from online advertisements run by the campaign.

Saving Labour has also launched a drive to gain support for Smith among trade union members affiliated to Labour, the third element of the electorate along with full members and electoral supporters.

Adding to the confusion is a high court case beginning on Thursday in which a crowdfunded group of full members are challenging Labour’s decision to only allow them a vote if they joined in January or earlier, a distinction not made for registered supporters. Corbyn is not a party in the case, but has expressed concern at the restriction.

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The time restriction on voting for members was made at the same meeting of Labour’s National Executive Committee last month that ruled Corbyn could be on the ballot automatically, without needing nominations from his MPs, but was viewed as a measure that could hurt the party leader’s vote.

Smith, formerly shadow pensions secretary, spent Tuesday on the campaign trail, using an event in London to publish what he called a “manifesto for fairness at work”, aimed at strengthening employee rights. It includes policies on collective bargaining, a wages council for low-paid sectors such as hospitality, retail and social care, and a return to national pay bargaining in local government, schools and the NHS.

Smith said: “These measures are part of my plan to take Britain from the shameful position of having some of the worst workplace protections in Europe, to having workers’ rights that are the envy of the world.”

Later, Corbyn addressed a packed event in Brighton, a day after telling thousands of people at an outdoor rally in Liverpool that the leadership contest was a “massive opportunity to reach out to people all across the country”. The event on Tuesday was at a hotel, limiting numbers, but there were reports of long queues to get in.

Brighton Lines (@IanInSussex) Huge queue to see Jeremy Corbyn at The Metropole tonight. #Brighton pic.twitter.com/SgqA7UYkDU

Part of Corbyn’s Brighton speech involved a call for Southern, the private company that runs the much-disrupted rail service into Brighton, to be stripped of its contract and replaced with a so-called people’s railway, as part of a wider rail nationalisation programme.

“A Labour government will take back the franchises that expire – and any that collapse – and put them into public ownership,” he promised.

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Earlier on Tuesday Corbyn faced his most direct attack yet from Angela Eagle, the former Labour leadership challenger who dropped out in favour of Smith. Eagle said Corbyn’s failure to deal with bigotry and intimidation had “tarnished the party’s reputation”.

The former shadow first secretary of state, who deputised for Corbyn at prime minister’s questions until her resignation, accused Corbyn of indifference to complaints of bullying and having “sat back silently as this has gone on”.

The comments relate particularly to the turmoil engulfing Eagle’s constituency of Labour party in Wallasey. The local party has been suspended over allegations by 17 members of bullying and homophobic language at its annual general meeting, including a claim that Eagle was in her absence referred to as “Angie the Dyke” and that another member was threatened with being punched in the head.



This has been branded as lies by Eagle’s critics within the local party, some of whom are holding an unofficial meeting of Labour members, hosted by Wirral TUC, on Tuesday night.



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In response, Eagle said on Tuesday that the 17 members spoke out because they wanted Labour to be “a safe welcoming campaigning environment, free of bigotry and bullying”.

Eagle said she was “saddened and disappointed” at the response from constituency officers, and said Corbyn had not done enough to intervene. She said: “For weeks now, Jeremy has sat back silently as this has gone on. This is precisely the kind of behaviour that has led to the Labour party finding itself in crisis. It has tarnished both the party’s reputation but most of all his own.”

A Corbyn aide rejected Eagle’s comments, saying the Labour leader had launched a code of conduct for behaviour and spoken out against abuse or protests directed at MPs. The aide added: “Anyone with evidence of abuse or threats should inform both the police and Jeremy, and he will personally ensure that it is properly investigated by the party.”