John McDonnell says Labour is “losing members hand over fist”

Ahead of suggestions that some on the left of the Labour Party may challenge the appointment of David Evans as General Secretary of the Party on the first day of the party’s annual conference next week, McDonnell called on the leadership to engage with the Left.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said of the Labour Party: “We are losing members hand over fist”, and suggested the figure was 100,000 so far.

McDonnell argued, “The best thing for Keir and David Evans to do is to get people around the table, accept that there are grievances there that need to be addressed”.

Continuing, he said, “To be frank I do think he lacks an element of political experience, he hasn’t been in politics that long. So therefore I think what he needs to do is engage more”.