MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Corbyn's leadership questioned: Labour MPs submit no confidence motion

Dame Margaret urged Corbyn to “do the decent thing” and stand down in the way that David Cameron had.

A motion of no confidence in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been submitted by two Labour MPs. Dame Margaret Hodge has submitted a motion - seconded by backbencher Ann Coffey - to the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), her office said.

 Dame Margaret urged Corbyn to “do the decent thing” and stand down in the way that David Cameron had. “The European referendum was a test of leadership and I think Jeremy failed that test,” she told Sky News.

“He came out too slowly, he was very half-hearted about his attempts to campaign and Labour voters simply didn't get the message.”

The motion has no formal constitutional force but calls for a discussion at their next PLP meeting on Monday. It will be up to the PLP chairman to decide whether it is debated

If accepted it would be followed by a secret ballot of Labour MPs on Tuesday.

But Corbyn has told Channel 4 that he will not resign. He also questioned whether the approach of Dame Margaret Hodge, who submitted her no confidence motion to the PLP, was a good idea due to “massive political issues” which need to be dealt with following the Brexit result.

Asked if he will resign, Corbyn told Channel 4 News: “No, I'm carrying on.

”I'm making the case for unity, I'm making the case of what Labour can offer to Britain, of decent housing for people, of good secure jobs for people, of trade with Europe and of course with other parts of the world. Because if we don't get the trade issue right we've got a real problem in this country.“

Meanwhile, Leave campaigner Gisela Stuart used a victory address at Vote Leave's headquarters to claim that party leaders should reflect on how they represent the views of voters.

Without naming Corbyn, she said: ”It is now incumbent to all party leaders to also reflect to what extent they are representing and reflecting the views of the voters.“

Former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said he was ”not surprised“ at the move and called on Corbyn to consider his position.

”I would say today he does need to consider his position and think about whether he should do the honorable thing,“ he told BBC News.

”Every MP is going to have to search their conscience about it but I think I would need an awful lot of persuading to have confidence in Jeremy's leadership going into a general election.”