After two senior Labour figures – Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey – tabled a motion of no confidence in the leader, Corbyn said he was aware of unrest within the party but would not buckle to the calls for him to resign.
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Mr Corbyn will use his speech on Saturday to outline the direction of the party following the European Union vote, and will also address the question of immigration, the key concern for many of those Labour voters who backed Brexit.
Corbyn is expected to deliver a speech Saturday afternoon outlining the party’s future direction, but his aides deny speculation that he will announce his resignation.
Labour’s Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey have tabled a motion of no confidence in a letter to Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) chairman John Cryer after Britain voted to leave the European Union by 51.9% to 48.1%.
She told the M.E.N. that while she had been “disappointed in the leadership for quite a long time”, Mr Corbyn’s inability to get messages across to people during the campaign now meant he was not fit to lead the party.
Responding to criticism from Labour colleagues that he had failed to address those concerns, Mr Corbyn said there needed to be a national dialogue on immigration to reach a new settlement.
“The EU referendum simply shone a light on how utterly out of touch Corbyn and [John] McDonnell [the shadow chancellor] are with so many traditional Labour voters outside of London”.
Today, pro-Brexit Labour MP Frank Field said Mr Corbyn should recognise he can not return the party to power.
The reports come after a leaked Labour briefing instructed MPs to tell reporters that Corbyn is the “only politician who can unite a divided country, as he can speak to both sides”.
A prominent backbench MP who believes Corbyn should resign, said: “I’m going to say so at the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party)”.
“We wish to submit a motion for urgent consideration by the Parliamentary Labour Party as follows: that this PLP has no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party”, they wrote.
One said it was “Conservatives and the Murdoch press” who were responsible, while others stayed quiet.
The Labour leader said: “Migration has enriched our country, our culture, and our community”.
More than 50 Labour MPs would have to sign a letter backing a rival candidate in order to spark a leadership contest.
Labour peer Lord Blunkett said he did not want Mr Corbyn to remain leader for the long term, but said the more urgent challenge facing the party was to work out what it stands for. That will now put to a vote of MPs at a forthcoming Monday night meeting of the parliamentary party, possibly as early as next week.
His position as Labour leader has always rested on his popularity among the party’s paid-up supporters rather than its MPs.
The blame for this is already being laid at the door of Jeremy Corbyn, who his critics allege was a closet “Brexiteer” who did not campaign wholeheartedly in support of the “Remain” campaign.
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Corbyn’s interventions were “the antithesis of leadership – it was pathetic”, he said.
