Corbyn re-elected UK Labour leader

Liverpool, September 24 

Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party on Saturday and called for unity after ending a "coup" by more centrist lawmakers who say his left-wing agenda can never deliver victory at the polls.

The veteran campaigner's triumph, by 313,209 to 193,229 votes, over challenger Owen Smith cements his authority over the divided party and will fuel a drive further Left, a move many lawmakers say will see them out of power and allow the ruling Conservatives free rein over Britain's divorce from the EU. Welcoming the result which handed him a larger share of the vote than his first leadership victory last year, Corbyn called on lawmakers and members at the party's annual conference in the northwestern city of Liverpool to come together to fight the  Conservative Party and bring "real change" to Britain.

"Elections are passionate and often partisan affairs, things are sometimes said in the heat of the debate ... which we sometimes later come to regret. Always remember in our party we have much more in common than that which divides us," he said to roars from the crowd of largely his supporters. "Let's wipe that slate clean and get on with the work we have got to do as a party together," he said, moving to ease fears that his re-election will widen the divide between the Labour Party's left and centre-left wings and that he may trigger moves to force centrist lawmakers from the party. 

His victory marks the next phase in a battle for control of the Labour Party.

In power for 13 years until 2010, Labour was dealt a crushing blow by the Conservatives five years later after they cast doubt on whether the party's left-wing policies would protect the economy.

The ruling party, under new Prime Minister Theresa May, still leads by seven percentage points in opinion polls and looks set to plot Britain's exit from the EU largely unopposed.

Corbyn told the conference his anti-austerity policies had attracted thousands to Labour, helping to almost treble its membership to make it western Europe's largest, and he was ready to lead a more democratic party to election victory in 2020.

But he faces an uphill battle to win over those who voted Labour at the last election but then supported Britain's exit from the EU, after a YouGov poll showed more than half of them have now abandoned Labour.

He also has to convince many Labour members of parliament, some of whom decided not to attend the annual conference, that his left-wing policies, such as renationalisation and campaigning against nuclear weapons, can have broad appeal. — Reuters

His views on key policies

BREXIT

Jeremy Corbyn, who critics have accused of being a lacklustre campaigner for Britain's EU membership during referendum campaign, has rejected calls for a second referendum and said the vote to leave must be respected. He has said Labour will be pressing for Britain to have full access to the EU's single market, but without requirements to liberalise and privatise public services. It will also call for protections for social, employment and environmental rights to be maintained in the Brexit deal.

ECONOMY

Corbyn opposes the Conservative government's spending cuts and has pledged to create a National Investment Bank and network of regional investment banks to invest £500 billion over 10 years into infrastructure and high-tech industries. Under his leadership, Labour has set out a "fiscal credibility rule", which would require it to balance day-to-day spending with money raised through taxes, only allowing borrowing for investment. He Corbyn wants to strengthen employment and trade union rights

DEFENCE

A long-time pacifist, Corbyn favours scrapping Britain's nuclear weapons. He defied official Labour Party policy and put himself at odds with many of his lawmakers by opposing renewing the Scottish-based nuclear-armed Trident submarines at a parliamentary vote in July. Corbyn, who has said he will create a minister for peace and a minister for disarmament if he were in government, would also like to see Britain pull out of the NATO military alliance.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Corbyn has previously criticised the US for putting pressure on Britain to boost its military expenditure and has said the long-term impact of US foreign policy will be to divide the world. The Labour leader has said he regrets describing members of the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah as friends. He has a history of political sympathy for Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA which ran a 30-year armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.