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Brexit: 'Half' of Labour top team set to

resign - BBC News
Media captionLIVE: BBC News coverage of Labour resignations

Up to half of the shadow cabinet is set to resign in a bid to oust

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, it is understood.
It comes after shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn was sacked
overnight after telling Mr Corbyn he had "lost confidence" in his
leadership.
Hours later, shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander said she
would resign.
Mr Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence over claims he was
"lacklustre" during the EU referendum - but sources close to Mr
Corbyn said he would stand again.
The sources said they were confident that Mr Corbyn would
automatically be on the ballot paper in the event of a leadership
contest - but different Labour sources disagreed about whether that
would be the case.
Meanwhile, a shadow cabinet member told the BBC: "I imagine that
there'll be a leadership election and Jeremy will win. But this is a
total distraction."

On the sacking of Hilary Benn, a Labour source told the BBC Mr

Corbyn had "lost confidence" in the shadow foreign secretary.
Newspaper reports suggested Mr Benn had been encouraging
shadow ministers to resign if Mr Corbyn ignored a motion of no
confidence.
Mr Benn said there was concern about Mr Corbyn's "leadership and
his ability to win an election".
He said he had phoned the Labour leader to tell him "I had lost
confidence in his ability to lead the party and he dismissed me".

By Chris Mason, BBC political correspondent

We expect further shadow cabinet ministers to resign in the coming
hours.
Why? In essence because they felt that Jeremy Corbyn was driving
with the handbrake on during the EU referendum campaign, just
wasn't putting enough into it and also, and crucially, many Labour
MPs think now, given that there is going to be a new prime minister
soon, there is the real prospect of a general election sooner rather
than later.
And they fear, in the words of one Labour MP yesterday, that if
Jeremy Corbyn is leading the party at that general election that
Labour will be wiped out.
But despite all this turbulence at Westminster that doesn't

guarantee, from the perspective of MPs, that they will succeed in

getting rid of him.
That's because - and this gulf within the Labour movement is still as
wide now as it's ever been - loads of party members and Labour
supporters think Jeremy Corbyn is brilliant.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Benn said: "At this
absolutely critical time for our country following the EU referendum
result, the Labour Party needs strong and effective leadership to
hold the government to account.
"We don't currently have that and there is also no confidence we
would be able to win a general election as long as Jeremy remains
leader. And I felt it was important to say that."
Asked if he thought Mr Corbyn should resign, he said he did but
added "that is a matter for him".
Mr Benn also ruled out standing for the Labour leadership.
The Labour Party campaigned for Remain during the referendum,
which saw the UK voting to leave the EU by 52% to 48% on
Thursday.
But Mr Corbyn - who has been a long-standing critic of the EU and
who is regarded as the most Eurosceptic Labour leader in years was criticised by some in his party for not making the case for the
EU forcefully enough.

Image copyright AFP

Image caption Shadow Health Secretary Heidi Alexander stands beside
Jeremy Corbyn (centre) during a referendum campaign photocall earlier
this month

Hours after Mr Benn's sacking, shadow health secretary Ms

Alexander, who joined Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet last year,
tweeted: "It is with a heavy heart that I have this morning resigned
from the shadow cabinet."
In a letter to the Labour leader, she wrote: "Our country needs an
effective opposition which can hold the government to account."
The letter continued: "As much as I respect you as a man of
principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the
answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to
form the next government, a change of leadership is essential."
Sources told the BBC shadow chancellor John McDonnell was
standing by Mr Corbyn, saying that anyone who resigned would be
replaced.

Speaking to BBC News, Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said of

Labour's EU referendum "was not Labour's finest hour."
He said Mr Corbyn's input was "lacklustre and half-hearted" and he
added that if the party had got more Labour voters on side, Remain
would have won.
The referendum had changed British politics, he said, and we can't
"just pretend it's business as usual", describing it as the "biggest
crisis since the second world war".
Ben Bradshaw, who served in Gordon Brown's government and in
opposition under Ed Miliband, said Labour faced being "wiped out"
under Mr Corbyn at the next general election, which he said was
neither good for the country nor the party.
He said his party needed to "think very carefully" whether Mr Corbyn
would win an election, and if he could do the "right job" for the next
days and weeks to help "steer Britain as opposition leader through
this very, very dangerous period".