Labour leadership race

[cbe]

Indeed - but any Tom Dick and Harriet can join a local Labour group
(come closer while I whisper - I was once a member of the Labour Party)
and why is the 'fee ' £25 to vote for the leader?
The attached refers to this 2020 election

[Richard]

Not sure what point you are trying to make cbe.
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postscript
Your attachment does not work.

[cbe]

MY point - to this time decide that you have to have paid £25 to be able to vote as opposed to the £3 last time can demonstrate only one of two things. 1) Labour are desperately short of funds or 2) they realise that the £3 idea allowed many, many thousands of people to do what I said 3 people I know did.
The link states 'Members who joined before 20 January will be eligible to vote.'

[Richard]

There are affiliated members(includes Unions) , full-time fee-paying members and lastly registered members eligible to pay a one-off fee to take part in the leadership election - boosting the party’s coffers in exchange for a say over its future.
The fee, for registered supporters, brought in by Ed Miliband, was set at just £3 - but that was raised to £25 for the 2016 contest triggered by Owen Smith’s ill-fated challenge to the Labour leader. The price hike did not deter supporters from registering, with almost twice as many people signing up compared to the previous year.
New party members were able to join the party and still secure voting rights until January 20th, as Labour’s updated rulebook mandated that the freeze date should be at least two weeks after the timetable is announced, which was 7th January.