Labour leadership: Rebecca Long-Bailey vows to rewrite party’s constitution to enshrine fight against climate emergency

Commitment comes as Long-Bailey and rival Sir Keir Starmer are grilled by BBC's Andrew Neil

Labour leadership contender Rebecca Long-Bailey has vowed to rewrite the party’s constitution to enshrine its battle against the climate emergency and protections to the environment.

Speaking on Wednesday, the shadow business secretary, one of three candidates vying to replace Jeremy Corbyn, said she would redraw the party’s totemic Clause IV, which sets out Labour’s aims and values.

“It’s time for Clause IV to be rewritten to bring us into the present day and show that our goal is to realise our goal is to realise everyone’s aspiration for a good life,” she said.

“We are a mass 21st-century democratic socialist party, so we should have a new, 21st-century Clause IV.”

Ms Long-Bailey’s proposed changes to the clause – last modified by Tony Blair in 1995 – include a commitment to a “green economy and a sustainable planet, recognising that socialism and environmentalism must go hand in hands”.

Her campaign says the changes will improve the existing clause by expanding pledges to the environment “in light of the climate emergency”.

Other modifications to the clause include pledges to expand public ownership, an “independent foreign policy”, and the expansion of democracy by devolving power to communities across the country.

The commitments came as Ms Long-Bailey and Sir Keir Starmer, the frontrunner in the contest, faced a grilling from the BBC’s veteran journalist Andrew Neil over campaign donations, antisemitism, and privatisation.

During the interrogation, the shadow Brexit secretary declined to identify all of the major donations behind his campaign, after coming under pressure to disclose funding.

Sir Keir insisted he was sticking by the party’s rules on donations, but allies of Ms Long-Bailey have urged for greater transparency in recent days while shadow minister Jon Trickett has described the delays as “anti-democratic”.

The leadership candidate criticised “this line of attack” when repeatedly pressed to reveal all of his donors on the BBC’s The Andrew Neil Show.

“How can you say I’m hiding behind process when it’s the Labour Party process,” Sir Keir said. “I’ve got a compliance team in place who are checking every donation is in accordance with the rules.”

“Once they’ve done that they pass it to the parliamentary authorities for them to publish it. So two lots have gone up, another lot is with the parliamentary authorities as of today, I’m following the rules.”

The flashpoint over campaign donations began last week when Ms Long-Bailey voluntarily published her major financial backers, including over £200,000 from Unite union and £100,000 from the left-wing group Momentum.

The Wigan MP Lisa Nandy also released a list of her financial backers, but Sir Keir has insisted he will do so in tranches to parliament’s official register of MPs’ interests. Under the rules of the register, all MPs must disclose within 28 days any interest and the list is updated every two weeks when the House of Commons is sitting.​

After Sir Keir was pressed on the funding of his campaign, Ms Long-Bailey was asked whether she believed the frontrunner was hiding something. “I hope not,” she told the BBC.

“But I think it’s fair to expect all leadership candidates to be transparent, come under scrutiny, because we will do as leader of the party and indeed as prime minister, so we should be as open as possible to show where our donations come from,” the shadow business secretary added.

“It’s important to do that because there’s always an assumption that you don’t get something for nothing in this world and those who donate to your campaign will expect to be repaid in some way in the future.”

Sir Keir also did not deny a claim by ally Lord Falconer that he was “appalled by the awfulness of the Corbyn leadership”.

Asked twice whether Lord Falconer’s claim was correct, Sir Keir said: “I was in the shadow cabinet and I challenged in the shadow cabinet where I thought I should challenge. Jeremy has stepped down and we are now looking for the next leader of the Labour Party.”

Challenged by Mr Neil over whether he was “frightened” to criticise Corbyn for fear of losing votes among the outgoing leader’s supporters in the party, Sir Keir added: “It’s not the truth. I served Jeremy for three-and-a-half years in his shadow cabinet. I worked with him, he actually led us through some really difficult times.

“I had disputes with Jeremy, things I didn’t agree with him on, and we had it out around the shadow cabinet table or on occasion I went to his constituency office and we had a discussion there.

“I know what I agreed with Jeremy on but the question now isn’t what is the criticism of Jeremy, it’s who is the best leader to take us forward now.”