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Jeremy Corbyn should resign, says Canterbury Labour MP Rosie Duffield

03:26, 13 December 2019

updated: 03:34, 13 December 2019

Labour MP Rosie Duffield says party leader Jeremy Corbyn should step down following a "devastating" day at the ballot box.

The 48-year-old called for his resignation after holding onto her Canterbury seat despite a national tide of Labour losses.

Jeremy Corbyn is facing calls to step down
Jeremy Corbyn is facing calls to step down

She increased her majority from 187 to 1,836, seeing off the challenge of Conservative Anna Firth.

Asked if he Mr Corbyn should step down, she said after her victory: "It looks that way, yeah.

"As I was leaving [to come to the count], so many of my good friends were in a really precarious position, and some have been declared.

"I've lost some good friends tonight, from Parliament. And that is devastating.

"So nationally, it's not really good is it?"

Ms Duffield's relationship with her party leader has long-been strained, and was made more so by her claims in July that the Labour Party "probably is institutionally anti-Semitic".

Asked if she thinks Mr Corbyn should have stepped aside in favour of a more "likeable" leader, she said: "I think both of the leaders we had really bad feedback for, if I'm honest, on the doorsteps.

"It's that, and there's loads of other issues. But we definitely need to look again at what went wrong, and I can't analyse that now, but we will be doing so in the next few days."

Rosie Duffield's celebration speech
Rosie Duffield's celebration speech

Mr Corbyn has said tonight he will not lead the party at the next General Election, but will lead the party into a period of reflection.

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