Labour leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy has warned her party must change or it “will die and we will deserve to.”
The Wigan MP claimed the party needed a completely new approach from Jeremy Corbyns regime or would face electoral oblivion.
Her comments came at a fiery hustings in Westminster, and represent a clear attack at rival Rebecca Long Bailey‘s vow to continue Mr Corbyn’s approach.
She said: “Now is not the time to steady the ship.
If we do not change course we will die and we will deserve to.”
Ms Nandy also repeated her accusations that the Labour party had patronised voters, and needed to listen more.
She said: We are a party built by working class people – not just for them.
How dare we tell working class people what’s good for them.
Fellow candidate Jess Phillips warned the party was struggling to get people to listen to them.
She said: “Boris Johnson has got a majority of 80.
We run the risk of being completely irrelevant for the next four years.
All over the country people have busy lives, with lots of noise from one way or another. We have got to get them to hear us in the little time they give us.”
Ms Long-Bailey told MPs Labour let down the people who rely on us.
She said: Our number one duty as Labour MPs is to learn the lessons of defeat and make sure we dont repeat them.
Her comments came just hours after she labelled Mr Corbyn a 10 out of 10 leader.
Bookies favourite Sir Keir Starmer urged the party to focus on trying to “win back our heartlands.
He said: “We need to understand and to address each and every reason we lost at this election, but we also need to win back Scotland, we need to win back seats in Wales, and if you draw a line from London to Bristol and look south we only have a handful seats.
“So, we have got a mountain to climb.”
Candidates will need the backing of at least 22 MPs and MEPs by next Monday to make the ballot.
