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10th February 2016

Students don’t regret Corbyn’s leadership

On Thursday evening, the Manchester Debating Union questioned the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. The House voted in favour of Corbyn
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TLDR

Last Thursday evening, the Manchester Debating Union held a debate to discuss the motion ‘This House Regrets the Election of Jeremy Corbyn to the Role of Labour Lead’. The initial straw poll indicated that just 11 per cent of the audience were in agreement with the motion, with 58 per cent against and the rest unsure.

A repeat vote at the end of the debate suggested that the proposition’s argument had been effective in convincing those who were undecided, but did not sway Corbyn’s supporters—the majority still opposed the motion at 57 per cent, whilst the percentage of those in support of the motion increased to 39 per cent.

The debate proved extremely popular with a large turnout. The lively audience was frequently called to order, and impassioned outbreaks of applause drowned out the words of the speakers on several occasions.

Speakers for the proposition included David Bender, a PhD candidate of the university of Hull, and Henry, a Labour Party member and postgraduate student. The opposition was comprised of Hannah McCarthy, Campaigns and Citizenship Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union, and Sam Wheeler, author of the Northern Futures Document for Corbyn’s leadership campaign and a representative on Unite’s Regional Young Workers Committee.

The proposition opened by discussing the view that Corbyn is bad for the electoral potential of the Labour party, going as far to say that he could lead them to “electoral annihilation”. The reasons cited for this include his perceived lack of competence in leadership and management of the economy, and unclear representation of his views to the media.

In response, the opposition argued that Corbyn’s appeal to the young and poor lies in the fact that he offers a left-wing alternative to mainstream career politicians. The opposition then argued that Corbyn has brought some important issues to the forefront of politics, including the refugee crisis and spending cuts.

During the proposition’s rebuttal, Bender agreed that today’s politics is narrow, but disagreed on the level of Corbyn’s popularity with the young, citing the -16 per cent approval rating of him amongst young people. He went on to argue that the negative perception of Corbyn turns the public away from some otherwise popular policies.

The opposition’s response focused on the personal change of Wheeler’s perception of Corbyn; he described his initial scepticism, and how that vanished after listening to Corbyn speak at an event in Manchester and, to the enthusiastic applause of debate audience, saw him take a selfie with a barman.

One audience member asked whether there was regret that Corbyn was not presenting his stance in a more effective way. There was disagreement within the opposition, with McCarthy believing that Corbyn standing behind his beliefs was more important than how he presented them, and Wheeler arguing that there was a case for a better press campaign, as both the message and presentation of it were important.

Henry of the proposition went much further than this, claiming that Corbyn’s approach was a “tactical disaster”. Bender argued that this is an issue specific to Corbyn rather than PR itself, and claimed he is “unwilling to engage” with this aspect of politics.

 


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