Exclusive: more than half of voters want Jeremy Corbyn back in the Labour party

Then Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) alongside shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer during a press conference in central London in 2019 Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Archive)

More than half of all voters believe that former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn should be allowed back into the party if he is re-elected as an MP in his constituency of Islington North.

Exclusive polling for the Independent by Techne shows that while 56 per cent of all voters say he should be re-admitted, this number is much higher among Labour voters, with 8 in 10 saying that Corbyn should be allowed to rejoin the Labour Party.

Mr Corbyn was banished from the Labour Party in May this year, after announcing he would stand as an independent candidate for the general election on July 4.

He has previously held the seat of Islington North for Labour since 1983. Corbyn had been suspended since 2020, over downplaying antisemitism reports, and was unable to run for Labour.

Mr Corbyn’s decision to stand as a non-Labour candidate was particularly controversial since he had been party leader from 2015 to 2020.

Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has repeatedly said he would not strike a deal with the Tories; nor is the idea popular on the other side, with former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson saying Farage would be allowed into her party “over my cold, dead corpse”.

Yet 46 per cent of all voters believe that Farage should be allowed to join the Conservatives if he wins his seat in Clacton, Essex next month.

A sample of 1,624 UK adults were asked the question: “If they become MPs at this General Election should Nigel Farage be allowed into the Conservatives and/or Jeremy Corbyn be allowed into Labour ?”

A third of respondents believed that both candidates should be allowed to join the major parties. Twice as many wanted only Corbyn to rejoin Labour (29 per cent), compared to 17 per cent who wanted only Farage to join the Tories.

Men were also more likely (19 per cent) than women (15 per cent) to think that only Farage should be allowed to join the Tories.

Unsurprisingly, Labour voters were far more likely to think that only Corbyn should be allowed to rejoin Labour (54 per cent), with only 5 per cent thinking the same for Farage.

Of those who voted Conservative in 2019, over half believe that Farage should be allowed to join the Tory party if he wins his seat.

With Farage and the Tories fighting something of a war between each other in this election, a marriage doesn’t look to be on the cards. But in the context of right-wing fragmentation and Tory votes going to Reform, voters suggest there may well be a future where Reform and the Tories join forces.