LABOUR seems to have "fallen backwards" and is moving further away from government under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, a backbencher has suggested, prompting speculation that the Labour leader could be facing a widescale rebellion if the party does as badly as some are predicting.
London Labour backbencher Neil Coyle, responding to suggestions his party could lose up to 300 seats in the local elections in England, told BBC's Newsnight: "The problem we seem to be seeing tonight - I hope it's not accurate - is that we are moving further away from government.
"We are moving further away from government because we seem to be fixated on some issues that are peripheral and we seem to have a team that isn't projecting either unity within the party or a vision and policies that the voters want to see.
"When I am knocking on doors in Bermondsey they need to know what our policy is on housing or education and too often all they seem to be hearing is an anti-Tory(message) not a pro-Labour(one); choose Labour because we will have a better education system."
He said there was a core team around Jeremy Corbyn, who could not get out of a left-wing mindset, and what was needed was a greater diversity of views.
"This is not about a coup," he declared. "I am here because I want a Labour government and a Labour prime minister and tonight's results look as though they are setting us back from that."
Mr Coyle said he was hearing from MPs and councillors across the country, who were saying how bad it was for the party in certain areas.
"So there will be a frustration. There is no one in the Labour Party, who doesn't want a Labour government. The way to get to a Labour government is to be honest and robust and look at why have we fallen backwards and not gone forwards."
READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn insists Labour won't lose council seats as he berates media's leadership 'obsession'
The backbencher, who nominated Mr Corbyn for the leadership to broaden the debate within the party but who eventually voted for Yvette Cooper, admitted that he now regretted this because the discussion had not been broadened but was fixated on peripheral issues, which were not relevant to the lives of ordinary people.
He added: "I kind of regret the fact that today we seem to be moving back beyond Ed Miliband's first year as Labour leader, which then led to a general election defeat. So if we've fallen back on that, then I can't do anything but regret that nomination.
"That's a very sad position to be in. There is still time to turn that around. We need that unity in the team and we need to be building the policy platform that brings voters back to Labour."
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