Labour to appeal against voting rights ruling

Britain’s Labour Party will appeal against a High Court ruling which said new party members should have the right to vote in its leadership election.

Judges ruled in favour of five supporters who accused the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) of unlawfully “freezing” them out, even though they had “paid their dues”, when it decided that full members would not be able to vote unless they had six months’ continuous membership up to July 12.

Party officials said Labour would mount a legal challenge to “defend the NEC’s right” to uphold its rules.