Labour begins official search for candidate to fight Jeremy Corbyn's north London seat

Labour on Wednesday began its official search for a candidate to fight Jeremy Corbyn’s north London seat at the next general election.

The party opened its selection process in Islington North.

In March last year Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would not be endorsing its former leader as a candidate at the next election following an antisemitism row.

But Mr Corbyn is tipped to run as an independent in the seat where he has been an MP for four decades.

Labour sources said on Wednesday that Sir Keir had made it clear Mr Corbyn will not be standing for the party and it had “moved on”.

“Jeremy is not part of Labours future,” they added.

“The party is now unrecognisable from the one that lost in 2019. Our focus is on our five missions to build a better Britain.”

It is understood that applications for the safe Labour seat will close on May 20 with a shortlist announced a week later.

The party will then host an online hustings for local members on  May 29.

The Labour candidate will be announced on June 1.

Mr Corbyn has won the London seat of Islington North for Labour at each of the last 10 general elections, often by a comfortable margin.

At the most recent election in 2019, he won 64 per cent of the vote, with the other parties some way behind on 16 per cent (Liberal Democrats), 10 per cent (Conservative) and 8 per cent (Green).

Mr Corbyn has represented Islington North as an independent since 2020, after being suspended by Labour over his response to a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission which found that Labour had broken equalities law.

There is the potential for Labour’s vote to drop, with some former supporters voting for Mr Corbyn instead of the new Labour candidate, or voting for another party, or even not voting at all.