Reuters-The leader of
Britain's opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, could step down before the
next national election in 2020 if its poor opinion poll ratings do not
improve,
the head of its biggest union backer said in an interview published on Monday.
Labour has
consistently placed a distant second in opinion polls and a survey by YouGov in
December had the party on 25 percent, its lowest since September 2009, versus
42 percent for Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives.
The next
parliamentary election is due in 2020.
"Let's suppose
we are not having a snap election. It buys into this question of what happens
if we get to 2019 and opinion polls are still awful," Corbyn supporter Len
McCluskey, head of the country's biggest union and Labour's largest financial
backer Unite, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.
"The truth is
everybody would examine that situation, including Jeremy Corbyn and (Labour
finance spokesman) John McDonnell ... These two are not egomaniacs, they are
not desperate to cling on to power for power's sake."
Left-winger Corbyn
was re-elected Labour leader in September after a challenge from one of his
lawmakers that exposed sharp divisions between the party's elected
representatives and grassroots supporters.
His office did not
immediately respond to a request for comment on McCluskey's remarks.
May, appointed prime
minister in July last year after Britain's vote to leave the EU forced the
resignation of David Cameron, has said she does not intend to hold an early
election.
But Labour's poor
poll ratings and a court battle over whether parliament's approval is needed to
begin EU divorce proceedings have increased speculation she could seek to boost
her slim majority in parliament by calling a snap vote.
Corbyn has
repeatedly said Labour is ready to fight an early election.
His party faces an
upcoming electoral test after lawmaker Jamie Reed, a vocal critic of Corbyn,
said last month he would step down at the end of January. The area in northern
England that Reed represents voted strongly in favor of Brexit.
In a December election
for a vacant Conservative-held parliamentary seat, Labour slipped from second
to fourth place.
Reuters
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