How Yorkshire lit flame for Corbyn’s Labour

Speaking at the party’s Autumn Conference in Brighton, he told Yorkshire MPs, council leaders and activists at an evening reception how his time in Yorkshire proved there was ‘a thirst’ to do things differently.

Deputy leader Tom Watson also let slip the best night’s sleep he had during his entire campaign was in fact at the Bradford Premier Inn, which the crowd responded to with a rousing cheer.

Mr Corbyn said: “I am very grateful to all the people in Yorkshire who voted for me in this election. I will forever remember the massive meeting we had in the Armories in Leeds, 2000 people there, multi-ethnic, multi-faith... multi-everything. We had a fantastic meeting.

“And the rally at the Crucible and the huge meeting that we held outside. Labour is on the way with hope, with optimism with unity and with determination.”

Labour membership in Yorkshire and Humber has lept from 17,000 to 32,000 since the beginning of the year and he thanked everyone in the region for their work during the election and afterwards in the Labour leadership contest.

He said: “We went to Bradford for our rally, there was no hall to take us, so we took over a cricket pitch. Don’t worry, we didn’t go on the square...don’t worry I know about these things. All of the events around the regional campaign and the hustings event just show how strong and vibrant a party we’ve got. Every hustings was completely packed out and all the leadership events were packed out. That shows a real thirst to do things differently.”

Giving a nod to his new shadow housing minister, John Healey, MP for Wentworth and Dearne, who was among the Yorkshire MPs who stayed to listen to Mr Corbyn, he said he was pleased to have him in his shadow team.

He said: “I’m very glad John Healey is with us. He is leading the policy on housing. There’s an issue on the lack of council housing, it’s an issue where the Government is forcing housing associations and councils to sell off their properties. It’s an issue to regulate the private rented sector which has become unaffordable to many people forcing many out of city communities they’ve lived in for a very long time. We need a policy and a strategy that conquers the housing crisis and makes sure that at the end of a Labour Government everyone is decently housed.”

Tom Watson joked at the clear number of ‘gatecrashers’ to the reception, many of whom had come into the room to hear Mr Corbyn speak.

However in his own attempt to charm Yorkshire members, the MP for West Bromwich East, won a mighty cheer when he said: “I came up a lot before the election, I hate to say it - the best Premier Inn in the whole of the United Kingdom is in Bradford.”