Both Angela Eagle and Owen Smith have revealed hopes of removing Corbyn.
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Labour’s leadership battle looks more likely to end up in the courts with rebels and Jeremy Corbyn loyalists rowing over whether the leader should be able to stand in the contest automatically.
She said there should be no legal challenge to the NEC’s decision but warned that Labour risks electoral wipeout in the north at the hands of Ukip, similar to that it has suffered in Scotland if Mr Corbyn remains leader.
He will join fellow MP Angela Eagle in trying to wrest the party leadership from the veteran socialist, who has refused to quit despite a major rebellion by his MPs.
It is likely the victor will be announced at the party conference in September.
Mr Corbyn said MPs should come together after it was agreed to automatically include him on the ballot following six hours of fraught discussions by the ruling National Executive Committee.
This means he doesn’t have to gather the support of 51 MPs like other leadership challengers – a task which, given his unpopularity with the parliamentary party, could have been hard.
Pledging to campaign “on all the things that matter”, the leader said anyone who had any disagreements should “come and talk about it”.
This week Labour’s National Executive Committee voted by 18 votes to 14 that, as incumbent, Corbyn did not need to garner enough votes to meet the threshold.
Since the announcement, Corbyn supporter Lauren Ashby has created a crowdfunding page in a bid to raise £5,000 to help cover the cost for those who wish to have their say.
Labour is engulfed in a bitter internal power struggle between Corbyn’s supporters in the grassroots membership and the party’s lawmakers, who overwhelmingly rejected his leadership after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union last month.
In the wake of the referendum result, Ms Stevens had emailed members stressing the importance of “stability and continuity” and said she would not support a no confidence motion against Mr Corbyn.
And he tried to position himself as left of Eagle, saying she was “supported by a lot of people who are further right on the spectrum of the Labour party than I am”.
“I want to see a vision for the country and a clear plan of how the Labour party will deal with the important issue of Brexit – so I am genuinely undecided at the moment”.
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Passions are running high, and a brick was thrown through the window of Ms Eagle’s constituency office on Tuesday.
