Labour split: Tom Watson urgently warns Jeremy Corbyn to act or watch more MPs quit the party

Deputy leader says 'frontbench needs to once again reflect the balance of opinion in the Parliamentary Labour Party'

Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson has delivered an urgent warning to Jeremy Corbyn to reach out to all wings of the party or risk further resignations from MPs.

After a group of seven MPs splintered away from the Labour Party to form the Independent Group in the House of Commons, Mr Watson also issued a scathing attack on “hard left” members who were celebrating the resignations.

In a video message recorded on Monday, Mr Watson said: “The tragedy of the hard left can be too easily tempted into the language of heresy and treachery.”

He later added: “I love this party. But sometimes I no longer recognise it. That’s why I do not regard those who have resigned today as traitors.”:

Referring to the handling of antisemitism allegations in the party’s ranks, Labour’s deputy leader said Luciana Berger – one of the MPs who resigned – was a casualty of a “virulent form of identity politics that has seized the Labour Party”.

At a surprise press conference in Westminster earlier on Monday, the MPs, who included Ms Berger, Chuka Umuna, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, and Ann Coffey, delivered a scathing assessment of Mr Corbyn’s leadership, and the party’s response to Brexit.

Mr Watson added his message: “I confess I feared this day would come. And I fear now, that unless we change, we may see more days like this. The departure of our colleagues poses a test for our party.”

“Do we respond with simple condemnation or do we try and reach out and extend beyond our comfort zone and prevent others from following?”

He later appeared to call on the Labour leader to reshuffle the party’s top team, adding the frontbench “needs to once again reflect the balance of opinion in the Parliamentary Labour Party.”

“We need to broaden out so that all the members of our broad church feel welcome in our congregation,” he said.

The deputy leader said the party needed to develop a policy programme that delivered “both within and beyond our traditional base”, noting if Labour did not then “someone else will”.