Jeremy Corbyn pleads with Labour MPs to 'move on' from leadership battle
Jeremy Corbyn has pleaded with MPs to "move on" from Labour's bitter leadership battle which has engulfed the party this summer.
Speaking to BBC1's Andrew Marr Show on the first day of Labour's annual conference in Liverpool, Mr Corbyn, who was re-elected as Labour leader with a strengthened mandate on Saturday, insisted the party was "quite united" on policy.
He said: "(We need to) move and discuss policies where you agree or disagree, put your contribution into that policy debate, put your contribution into what we do in parliament into representing the people who have sent us there, put your contribution in to making our party and movement stronger."
'More power for party members'
Mr Corbyn also pledged to give more power to Labour party members, whose numbers have swelled to more than 500,000.
"What I want is more power for members, more power for supporters in order to ensure that we get policies that have support throughout the whole party, for example anti austerity strategy.
As for whether new party members will get a vote on decisions in the Labour party, Mr Corbyn added: "You will of course through your local party.
"I would like to take that in a way that people can participate much more - much more online policy development, much more online consultation as well."
'No deselection concerns'
Mr Corbyn also said the "vast majority" of Labour MPs have nothing to fear from deselection, but stopped short of ruling out the possibility that some may lose their seats.
The Labour leader said that sitting MPs with a geographical claim on new constituencies following the upcoming shake-up of boundaries will "automatically" go onto shortlists, and that local parties will then use "democratic discussion" to choose a candidate.
Following the defeat of challenger Owen Smith's attempt to unseat Mr Corbyn, MPs from Labour's centrist wing have urged the leader to rule out deselections and restore shadow cabinet elections as an olive branch to bring the party back together.
Jeremy Corbyn's Islington North constituency is one of 50 to be abolished under new proposals published by the Boundary Commission for England. The shakeup will affect several other MPs' seats, including Owen Smith (Pontypridd), Boris Johnson (Uxbridge and South Ruislip), and George Osborne (Tatton).
"We are going through unfortunately a boundary change, every constituency boundary is going to be changed. A new selection will have to take place in every single constituency," said Mr Corbyn.
"The relationship between and MP and there constituency is a complex one. Let's have a democratic discussion and I think the vast majority of MPs will have no problem whatsoever."
'Undemocratic' Brexit strategy
As for his views on the implementation of Brexit, Mr Corbyn labelled Theresa May's assertion that there would be "no running commentary" on the government's negotiations with the EU once Article 50 is activated as "undemocratic".
"I don't think it's democratic and I don't think it's sustainable at all."
"This is a huge political issue, it's the most significant economic issue facing Britain in my or your lifetime and I think at the very least parliament should be fully informed."
He said Labour had set up a Brexit team to demand information from the government and also get involved in talks.