Labour members drop legal challenge against leadership election voting ban

Five members of the Labour Party have decided not to take their legal challenge to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal said the party was allowed to bar some new members from voting in the upcoming leadership election.

The party's National Executive Committee (NEC) had said that only those who had been continuous members for six months up to 12 July would be allowed to vote in the race been current leader Jeremy Corbyn and challenger Owen Smith. There was a short window for new members to pay £25 and become 'registered supports' and gain the right to vote.

The legal challenge was brought by five new members: Christine Evangelou, Rev Edward Leir, Hannah Fordham, Chris Granger and FM, a teenage member, who used crowdfunding for their costs.

On the CrowdJustice page, Hannah Fordham wrote it had been "an odd, emotional-rollercoaster of a week for us all."

"Unfortunately, given the costs involved in pursuing the case further, we have taken the decision that this is where this particular legal case has to stop," she wrote, adding that the case had not been in vain and that their win in the high court "[exposed] facts which have spurred important conversations about the role of the Labour Party membership and the NEC."

The post said that the £94,495 ($122,000) raised would go towards costs the group were ordered to pay, as well as their own legal costs.

In an interview with the Observer, Jeremy Corbyn said that he did not think the exclusion of new members would affect the outcome but that he was "very disappointed" by the appeals court ruling and refused to say he had full confidence in Labour's general secretary, Iain McNichol.