LABOUR Party leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn is heading to Liverpool's Adelphi Hotel this weekend as his campaign gathers speed.
He will be speaking at a rally organised by Merseyside County TUC. It is JC's second coming to the area in a matter of weeks. In early July more than 800 people turned up to see the left winger set out his stall at Birkenhead Town Hall.
The TUC says they are bringing him back because they want more working class people in Merseyside to hear his message.
Corbyn is now the bookies' odds on favourite to win the ballot. Under new rules, people can register as Labour supporters, pay £3 and take part in the vote. Thousands have, sparking weekend calls from Harriet Harman, the party’s interim leader, to suspend the leadership race amid fears it is being warped by a wave of hard-left “infiltrators”.
Whilst the Tory government seeks to impose a ‘Sheriff of Nottingham budget’, Jeremy and 47 other Labour MPs voted to oppose it, that’s why so many people are registering and supporting him
Alec McFadden, president of Merseyside County TUC and rally organiser, said: “We are bringing Jeremy back to Merseyside so that more working class people can hear his message and ask him questions. In my view, he is the only candidate that represents the needs and aspirations of the people."
On BBC's Andrew Marr show yesterday, JC reiterated his wish to re-nationalise the railways and utilities, arguing that Labour lost the election because it was too close to the “economic orthodoxy”.
His remarks came at the end of a dramatic political week when Corbyn led Labour rebels to vote against the Conservative Work and Welfare Reform Bill which will see £12 billion slashed from, among others, Child Tax Credits and Housing Benefit. All of Liverpool's MPs abstained from the vote, as did the other leadership contenders, Andy Burnham, Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper.
McFadden added: "Whilst the Tory government seeks to impose a ‘Sheriff of Nottingham budget’, Jeremy and 47 other Labour MPs voted to oppose it, that’s why so many people are registering and supporting him”.
The opinion poll in the Times on July 22 predicted that Corbyn will win the election by over 6pc with Andy Burnham in second place. Bookies currently place him the 5/2 favourite with Burnham evens to win.
It's left many people in the local Labour rank and file confused and a tad anxious, but when asked whether he had "split the Labour Party" Corbyn replied: “On the contrary, I think we have strengthened it because we have shown that there are Labour MPs who are deeply concerned about the level of child poverty in our society”.
The TUC says he will expand on this at the Adelphi and will explain the type of welfare system that is needed.
Other invited speakers include Kate Osamor, new Labour MP for Edmonton who also voted against the Tory’s Welfare Reform Bill, Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Ross Quinn, President of Wirral TUC and Unite member.
The meeting takes place on Saturday August 1 at 6pm for a 7pm start in the Adelphi. Entry is free and disabled access is via Brownlow Hill at the side of the hotel.
