'I'm going nowhere': Jeremy Corbyn vows to stay on as Labour leader

Under pressure: Mr Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence after MPs said they were unhappy with his performance during the Remain campaign
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Jamie Bullen25 June 2016
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Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to stand for the Labour leadership again if MPs are successful in their bid to topple him.

Mr Corbyn is facing a vote of no confidence next week after MPs were unhappy with his performance during the campaign for Britain to stay in the EU.

Dame Margaret Hodge submitted a motion to the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday which could trigger Mr Corbyn’s exit if enough MPs support it.

But the Labour chief today insisted he was going nowhere and said he would run again if forced into a crisis leadership election.

Asked if he would contest the leadership in such circumstances, he said: “Yes, I'm here, thank you."

Thumbs up: Jeremy Corbyn greets supporters as he made a post-Brexit speech in which he insisted he would stand again in a Labour leadership challenge
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

He added: “There are some people in the Parliamentary Labour Party who would probably want somebody else being the leader of this party, they have made that abundantly clear in the past few days."

His defiance comes as more Labour MPs publicly criticise his leadership amid fears he has little chance against the Conservatives at a general election.

Frank Field told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “He clearly isn't the right person to actually lead the party into an election because nobody thinks he will actually win.

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“We clearly need somebody who the public think of as an alternative prime minister."

Mr Corbyn said Labour needed to listen to its traditional voters who backed the Leave campaign and said it was not racist to be concerned about immigration during a post-Brexit speech.

He accused the Tories of creating a “divisive” culture in which they shifted blame for cuts in public services from the Government to immigrants.

He said: “We have to move beyond the irresponsible debate that we sometimes have that makes people afraid or that accuses people of being Little Englanders or racists just for raising the issue.

"We must talk about immigration, but we will never pander to prejudice.

"It is clear from the vote on Thursday and from the people I have spoken to across Britain that there was a backlash against the free movement of people across the 28 nations in the European Union.”

He reiterated his pledge to block the emergency Budget containing £30 billion of spending cuts and tax rises that Chancellor George Osborne threatened to impose if the UK voted for Brexit.

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