Jeremy Corbyn 'would receive backing' from majority of constituency Labour party chiefs

Local chairs and Labour councillors have said they will continue to support leader

Jeremy Corbyn arrives to speak at a 'Keep Corbyn' rally at the School of Oriental and African Studies on June 29, 2016 in London (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The majority of constituency Labour Party chiefs have said they will continue to offer their support to Jeremy Corbyn, and believe their constituents would re-elect him as leader, a survey has found.

Out of 50 chairs and secretaries of local Labour parties who endorsed Corbyn last year, interviewed yesterday by BBC Newsnight, 90 per cent said that they would continue to offer their support to Jeremy Corbyn, despite the current Labour leader losing a vote of no confidence.

One told the BBC: "The MPs are living in their own little bubble. The orchestration of it is appalling, characterised by a total lack of democracy.

"They are dishonest. Jeremy should stand again - this is a fight for the soul of the party."

The 90 per cent also said that believe that their constituencies would nominate Mr Corbyn as leader once again if he were to stand in a leadership contest.

Over 240 Labour councillors have signed a letter pledging their continued support for Mr Corbyn, following the vote of no confidence in which 172 MPs voted against the leader, compared to only 40 voting in his favour.

They wrote: “We… are dismayed by the attempt by some within the Parliamentary Labour Party to oust our democratically elected leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

“It would be utterly self-defeating for the people we represent if now, less than a year after Jeremy was elected on the single biggest mandate of any previous leader, he was to be forced from office.

The councillors described the actions of some members of the Parliamentary Labour party as “self-indulgent, and stressed that the Party risks losing the supporters that have joined since Corbyn became leader.

“Our enemy is not Jeremy Corbyn – it is the Tory party and their plans to use the EU referendum as a fig leaf to inflict further cuts to the councils we represent.

“We hope that those MPs who have embarked on this indulgent course of action will reflect on their behaviour and turn their fire on the real enemy, the Tory party.”

Former business secretary Angela Eagle is set to challenge Mr Corbyn for leadership, reports say, having gathered the support of 51 MPs needed to do so.

Around 13,000 thousand people have joined the Labour party in the week following Brexit, and ITV political editor Robert Peston has claimed that 60 per cent put ‘supporting Corbyn’ as their reason for joining.