Jeremy Corbyn is under pressure to quit as he loses a vote of confidence among MPs.

In a heavy defeat for the leader, he polled just 40 votes with 172 MPs saying they had no confidence in him.

It looks likely that there will now be a formal leadership challenge although the rules around such a contest are complex.

Before today's vote, four former Labour parliamentary candidates from Kent called for Jeremy Corbyn to stand down.

The quartet are among more than 50 candidates who stood for Labour at the general election in May last year and have urged the beleaguered leader to move aside.

Mr Corbyn says he would put his hat in the ring if there was a fresh leadership contest - although the vote by MPs does not automatically trigger one.

Naushabah Khan, who stood for Rochester and Strood, along with Tristan Osborne (Chatham and Aylesford) and Guy Nicholson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) have all signed a letter in which Mr Corbyn is told that he is not a credible future PM and urge the party to change leader.

The fourth is Allen Simpson, who contested Maidstone and the Weald in 2015 for Labour.

The letter reads that as a result of canvassing thousands of voters between them, there were two”important lessons” learned.

“We cannot win an election unless the country believes that our party leader is a credible Prime Minister who they can trust to both lead our country on a world stage and help their family at home.”

It adds that the party needs “a strong and positive vision for the country as a whole.”

“We have come to believe that were a general election be held today, Labour would fail these two steps.”

The letter concludes: “We admire the service that Jeremy Corbyn has offered to our party as a leader in the past year..however, we believe we must accept that we cannot achieve our shared ambitions for the future of the UK without a leader able to command the confidence of the country.”