LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn must urgently develop a strategy to win back votes across Britain, former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has warned.
Ms Cooper, who lost out to Mr Corbyn in last year's leadership contest, said that last week's results in elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and English local councils showed the party was not yet on course for a return to power.
She highlighted the success of Sadiq Khan - who was widely seen to have distanced himself from Mr Corbyn's left-wing agenda - as an example of the sort of tactics the party needs to adopt if it is to succeed at the ballot box.
READ MORE: Labour losses a test for Jeremy Corbyn as some party members denounce leader as 'incompetent
"It is great that Sadiq won, but we had a grim result in Scotland and, as Jeremy said, we only hung on across England," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"That is not enough in order for us to win a general election and we should all of us remember that that general election might come rather sooner than anybody expects - it may come rather sooner than 2020.
"We don't know what is going on in the Tory Party, at what point they will change leaders.
"Therefore we need a plan and a strategy to win votes across the country, because we need a Labour government."
Jeremy Corbyn is expected to address Labour MPs after being warned by Mr Khan that he must appeal to voters beyond the party's core support.
The new London Mayor used a series of media appearances over the weekend to issue a warning about the party's direction.
Mr Corbyn was a notable absentee from his signing-in ceremony, but the two men are expected to hold talks today.
READ MORE: Labour losses a test for Jeremy Corbyn as some party members denounce leader as 'incompetent
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