GERMANY’S Social Democrats (SDP) are taking a leaf out of the New Labour handbook in a bid to stop new members blocking a coalition deal with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

Party officials plan to introduce a cut-off point after which new members will be ineligible to take part in a ballot on coalition terms. They said they would decide on a date next week.

Similar administrative tricks were used by the Labour Party bureaucracy in the 2015 and 2016 leadership elections in a futile bid to stop socialist candidate Jeremy Corbyn from winning.