Labour Aren't Even a Credible Opposition: Corbyn Must Resign

By: Finlay Gordon-McCusker, Student Voices writer

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Jeremy Corbyn speaks in Parliament before the shadow cabinet mass resignation

We have just been through one of the most unpredictable campaigns our country has ever seen. It was more important than any General Election before, and the results will be with us far longer. As the Prime Minister resigned, it became immediately clear Britain was going to change, and so was the face of our politics.

Over the weekend as we watched Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership fall apart, it became obvious that we, The Labour Party cannot perform as an opposition. On Sunday, we were inundated with news of various Shadow Cabinet members resigning. In the end, nearly fifty shadow ministers resigned, showing a complete lack of leadership in the party. We are not an opposition, our leader cannot find enough MPs willing to support him to create a full shadow team.

We now face a choice as a party: we can vote for change, a challenger to Corbyn who will hopefully become clear in the coming days. Or we can choose the same path we followed last September. The path of division, of failure, and infighting. I want us to choose the positive choice, I want us to vote for hope. At current, no MP has openly come forward to announce their candidacy. Angela Eagle MP was due to make a speech on Thursday afternoon, but it was postponed.

Until then, we must continue to look at the problems within the party and seek to address them. During Corbyn’s tenure, antisemitism has risen within the Labour Party. On Thursday morning, during the Launch of the Chakrabarti Report, Ruth Smeeth MP was verbally attacked by a left-wing Momentum activist who accused the Stoke-on-Trent North MP of being part of the ‘Media Conspiracy’. Ms. Smeeth has had no correspondence from the Leader’s Office. Part of the statement issued by her is below.

"No-one from the Leader’s office has contacted me since the event, which is itself a catastrophic failure of leadership. I call on Jeremy Corbyn to resign immediately and make way for someone with the backbone to confront racism and antisemitism in our party and in the country."

I am afraid that Ms. Smeeth is right, it is now time for Jeremy to resign to allow a new leader to come into office and stamp out this evil that is brewing within the party.

               

After the comments were made, and the launch was over, Jeremy apologised to the activist who made these comments, and said that he’d sent him a text message. This is solid proof that this man is not capable of leading our party, and fixing the monumental problems we find ourselves battling.

Years ago, the Labour Party were considered a competent party of government. We are now not even a credible opposition. We must now move to the post-Corbyn era of the party. Our members do not want Jeremy to lead us at the next General Election, but that election could be upon us within months.

The Labour Party needs stable leadership, and more importantly, the country deserves a strong, credible opposition. It is for these reasons that I am calling on Jeremy Corbyn to resign as Labour leader so we can unite as a party, and win back the trust of the country.