Labour's NEC to decide on Jeremy Corbyn ballot rules

Labour's National Executive Committee is set to rule on whether Jeremy Corbyn should automatically be included in the party's leadership ballot.

Unions say party rules are clear that he must be in any leadership contest, but his opponents say he needs the nominations of 51 MPs or MEPs to stand.

The ruling NEC could face the threat of legal action from Mr Corbyn.

The contest has been triggered by a challenge against the leader from ex-shadow minister Angela Eagle.

Ms Eagle has criticised Mr Corbyn for failing to connect with Labour voters and said she could provide "strong" leadership to "heal our country in these dangerous times".

Mr Corbyn had been due to speak at the Unite union's policy conference in Brighton on Tuesday afternoon, but he will not now do so as it clashes with the party's NEC meeting.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said the decision the NEC reaches later "could be explosive".

He said if the Labour leader is required to get 51 nominations in order to stand he could struggle to get on the ballot as only 40 of his party backed him on a motion of no confidence recently.Labour-commissioned legal analysis states Mr Corbyn needs the nominations - just like any challenger - but unions say, as existing leader, he does not.

The BBC has seen legal advice sent to Unite by solicitors that states: "The rules by which the Labour Party is governed are unambiguous: the leader does not require any signatures to be nominated in a leadership election where there is a potential challenger to the leadership."

The solicitors make clear that legal action will be launched unless Mr Corbyn is automatically on the leadership ballot, and they would halt any leadership election by applying to the High Court for an injunction.

What the Labour rule book says:

ii: Where there is no vacancy nominations may be sought by potential challengers each year prior to the annual session of Party conference. In this case any nomination must be supported by 20% of the combined Commons members of the PLP and members of the EPLP. Nominations not attaining this threshold shall be null and void.

Mr Corbyn, who has never had much support among his party's MPs, was elected as leader overwhelmingly in a vote of Labour members and registered supporters last year.

Unite union general secretary Len McCluskey has warned Labour not to seek a "sordid little fix" to prevent Mr Corbyn defending his leadership.

He said it would be "alien to the concept of natural justice" if the Labour leader was not "automatically on the ballot paper".

The rules were "not ambiguous" and the incumbent "must be able to defend themselves", he said.Ms Eagle, former shadow business secretary, launched her leadership challenge against Mr Corbyn on Monday.

Her bid for the job followed days of her calling for Mr Corbyn to resign, after a succession of walkouts from the shadow cabinet in protest at his leadership.

Ms Eagle told BBC Radio 4's Today that "now" was the time for Labour to elect its first female leader, especially given the Conservatives were getting a second female prime minister in Theresa May.

Asked how she would differ from Mr Corbyn as leader, she said: "I wouldn't be hid in my room, not talking to Labour members."

'Just emotion'

She accused Mr Corbyn of failing to campaign with "enough confidence" to stay in the European Union during the UK's recent referendum.

And she said unlike Mr Corbyn, she would not be calling for Article 50 - which kick starts the formal process for leaving the EU - to be signed straight away.

"That would cause chaos. We need to spend more time disentangling ourselves from the EU in a way which does the least damage. So I wouldn't rush to the exits," she said.

She also defended her tearful response in a number of TV and radio interviews after she quit the shadow cabinet, saying she had tried unsuccessfully for nine months to make Mr Corbyn's leadership work.

"It was just emotion that I had been unable to deliver that," she said.

"There is more than one way to be a leader and I think being in touch with your emotions is quite important. It was a difficult day. Politicians ought to be human beings and leaders can be human beings."

Owen Smith, MP for Pontypridd and Labour's former work and pensions spokesman, has said he would consider making a rival leadership challenge.

'I've failed'

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll for the Election Data website suggested that of 1,221 trade union members surveyed, 63% thought Mr Corbyn was doing badly as leader, compared with 33% who thought he was doing well.

Some 76% said it was unlikely that Mr Corbyn would ever become prime minister, while 69% said it was unlikely Labour would win the next election while he was leader.

Union representatives take up 12 of the NEC seats - about a third of the total.Deputy leader Tom Watson told a parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) meeting that his abandoned peace talks with union leaders earlier this month had failed to close the gap between MPs and pro-Corbyn elements of the party.

He said: "For years I've been told I'm a fixer. Well I've tried to fix this, I've really, really tried, and I've failed.

"I've tried to find a way forward for the party between two apparently irreconcilable decisions.

"Clearly the vast majority of the PLP has already made it clear they wouldn't countenance a settlement that involved Jeremy staying in place."