Labour's ruling executive agrees controversial rule changes on leadership contests and deselection on MPs

Labour’s ruling executive has agreed a raft of controversial changes to party rules on leadership contests and the selection of MPs as part of plans to hand more power to members.

The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) voted for changes that could pave the way for the deselection of sitting MPs and make it easier for a left-wing successor to Jeremy Corbyn to secure a place on the leadership ballot.

The changes are seen as a key plank of Mr Corbyn’s plans to transform Labour, although they do not go as far as many of his left-wing supporters had hoped.

In particular, the outcome will come as a disappointed to the Momentum campaign group, which has campaigned vocally for MPs to have to automatically fight for reselection in open process in which anyone would be free to stand against them.

Instead, the NEC backed a compromise plan that will see sitting MPs forced to fight a selection process, with other candidates free to challenge them, if either a third of local party members or a third of local affiliated trade union members vote to trigger an open contest.

Momentum sources suggested the group accepted the compromise but would continue campaigning for fully open selections.

Left-wing members of the NEC spoke against the proposed changes, which they said did not go far enough, but it is understood the issue was not put to a vote and was therefore agreed unanimously.

The change is likely to be criticised by Labour MPs, who fear it is part of a plan to oust parliamentary critics of Mr Corbyn.

During a meeting on the eve of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, the NEC also agreed to the creation of a second deputy leader, who must be a woman. Some have interpreted the move as an attempt by allies of Mr Corbyn to sideline the current deputy, Tom Watson.

The rule changes arose from Labour’s democracy review, carried out by a close aide to Mr Corbyn, Katy Clark.

The proposals had been expected to be agreed at a meeting earlier in the week but became the subject of a major row between Momentum, which wants to give members more control, and Labour's trade union backers, which have fought to retain their influence over leadership contests and MP selections.

In addition to reforms to the way parliamentary candidates are selected, there will also be changes to the criteria that candidates for the party leadership must meet if they are to secure a place on the ballot paper.

Currently candidates must obtain the backing of 10 per cent of Labour MPs and MEPs, which this has been seen as a barrier to a left-wing candidate from Mr Corbyn's part of the party gaining enough nominations to proceed to the vote of members.

Under the proposed changes, candidates would still need to be backed by just 10 per cent of MPs and MEPs, but would also have to secure the support of 5 per cent of local members or 5 per cent of local union members – effectively giving grassroots activists the right to veto candidates that have enough backing from parliamentarians.

The proposal will be voted on by delegates at the conference on Sunday.

Following the meeting, a Momentum source said: "The result of tonight’s NEC shows the power of grassroots campaigning. Thousands of members lobbied their NEC representatives, Momentum petitions gathered 50,000 signatures and while the members haven’t got everything they wanted, these proposals are a significant improvement on what was being discussed earlier in the week.

"The changes in selections rules will give members far more say in who represents them and result in more open selections. And while the slight increase in the threshold is deeply disappointing, we managed to avert disaster and avoid a dramatic increase to the leadership threshold which would have stopped a socialist candidate getting on the ballot in a future leadership contest.

"Long term Momentum will continue to campaign for full open selections and to abolish the MP veto over leadership candidates."