Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party could nick 40 seats off Labour if it backs second Brexit referendum, MP warns

LABOUR will lose 40 MPs to the Brexit Party if it backs a second Brexit vote, one of Jeremy Corbyn's own warned today.

Caroline Flint cited research which showed the party would see seats in its heartland go straight to Nigel Farage if the party embraces another vote to overturn the result of the first.

The Don Valley MP told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show today: "Those Labour leave voters are likely to go to the Brexit Party.

"We would be losing in our heartland seats.

"If we don't speak for the voices of the working class Britain, what's the point of the Labour Party?"

She later said it could be even more - 48 lost to the Brexit Party and 4 to the Lib Dems.

Last week Mr Corbyn confirmed to MPs that he's ready to back a second referendum in all circumstances - after pressure from dozens of Remainer MPs and flopping in the local and European elections.

But their new policy risks alienating millions of voters in the North and Midlands in traditional Labour towns and cities that votes to leave.

26 Labour MPs wrote to the Labour boss to demand he listens to Labour voters who want Britain to leave the EU.

Ms Flint said that they would like the chance to vote through a Brexit deal if they could.

And she made it clear she would vote in favour of No Deal if necessary, rather than allow Brexit to be cancelled altogether.

"If that is where we end up, that is where I will be," she said.

Shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne admitted it would be a "difficult" balancing act for the party.