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Why Jeremy Corbyn should resign: Black Country Labour MPs call for leader to quit

Labour MPs from across the Black Country have urged Jeremy Corbyn to resign in order to prevent a split within the party and provide a 'strong, effective opposition' to the Government.

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Rob Marris said he has met with Labour's under fire leader and urged him to quit after telling him that he had lost the support of 'many MPs'.

The Wolverhampton South West MP was one of a number of politicians, including John Spellar, David Winnick, Adrian Bailey and Pat McFadden, who are calling for Mr Corbyn to step down.

He said the Labour leader's position had become 'untenable' and warned there was a 'very real possibility' of a split in the party.

The Labour Party meltdown has seen around 50 frontbench MPs resign. Mr Corbyn now faces a leadership challenge after losing a no confidence vote and is struggling to fill his shadow cabinet.

Mr Marris said: "I have told Jeremy Corbyn that he has lost the support of his party and that his position has become and he should resign.

Rob Marris

"The referendum result has shown the shallowness of Labour support in large parts of Britain.

"Many of my colleagues have woken up to what I have been saying for months. I believe there will be a general election, either in October this year or May 2017.

"As a result some of my colleagues are panicking. I think it would be very difficult for Labour to obtain a majority if we had an election.

"I think there is a very real possibility of a split in the Labour Party. That would be very regrettable and would be letting down people we serve to represent, including some of the country's most vulnerable.

"We need a strong, effective opposition to hold the Government to account and make our democracy work."

Warley MP John Spellar, said: "Clearly the events of the last week have shown unfortunately that Jeremy Corbyn is not the man to take us into the general election.

John Spellar

"There has been a loss of confidence from the Parliamentary Labour Party. We need to move on to a new leader to confront this disorganised Conservative rabble."

"Our responsibility is to the voters and for us to form an effective opposition he needs to go."

West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey, said: "The sensible thing for Jeremy Corbyn to do now would be to recognise he is in an impossible position and resign with good grace.

"Unfortunately the indications are that he is not going to do that."

Pat McFadden, the Wolverhampton South East MP, who was sacked by Mr Corbyn in a shadow cabinet reshuffle in January, said: "I didn't vote for Mr Corbyn in the leadership election last year.

Pat McFadden

"Since he was elected many voters in my constituency have approached me and said they could not vote Labour while he remained leader.

"There is now a consensus across the vast majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party that his leadership is not working.

"I appreciate that he was elected under the new rules last year but we have to also consider our duty to the public and the communities we represent.

"A weak Labour Party is no help for them and we have a duty to put stronger leadership in place, particularly with the prospect of an early general election.

"It's not an easy process we are going through but I hope Mr Corbyn heeds the many calls from former MPs, former leaders, local government voices and an increasing number of party members to step down."

Wolverhampton North East MP Emma Reynolds quit her shadow cabinet post when Mr Corbyn took over as leader. She refused to serve under Mr Corbyn, citing 'major policy differences' over the EU.

Emma Reynolds

Ms Reynolds has warned that Labour could 'lose many, many seats' if it fought a general election under Mr Corbyn.

Walsall South MP Valerie Vaz declined to comment on the current upheaval within the party, although she is known to have backed Andy Burnham in last year's leadership election.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin has been a long time critic of Mr Corbyn. He said Labour's job was to 'attack the Tories', but added that 'people like Jon Trickett and Jeremy Corbyn aren't doing a very good job of it'.

Labour's deputy leader, the West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson, has not commented publicly since the leadership challenge was announced.

He is considered to be one of the possible candidates to replace Mr Corbyn, along with Angela Eagle.

The resignations from Labour's frontbench continued to pile up yesterday. They included Pat Glass, who controversially said 'older white men' were a problem in the EU debate during an event in Wolverhampton last month.

She quit the post of shadow education secretary that she been given only two days ago.

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