Calls for Labour to get rid of Corbyn as party slumps to record low in the polls

Only 18 per cent of voters said that they would back Labour if a general election was held today, putting the party behind the Conservatives (24 per cent), the Brexit Party (23 per cent) and Lib Dems (20 per cent).

The low rating for Labour has only been matched once in the past, by Gordon Brown's fading administration during the 2009 financial crisis.

The YouGov poll also showed that just a quarter of Remain voters now back Labour – down from 48 per cent at the start of the year – amid rising criticism of Mr Corbyn for failing to set out a clear strategy on another Brexit referendum.

Less than one in 10 Leave voters would back Labour, according to the poll of 1,605 adults, while 70 per cent described Mr Corbyn as "unfavourable", making him the most unpopular politician from a list that included Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Theresa May.

'Dangerously extreme'

Dudley North MP Ian Austin, who quit Labour earlier this year, said the party was falling apart under Mr Corbyn's leadership.

He said Labour had become "a dangerously extreme, viciously sectarian cabal" and claimed that even "fervent supporters" had started to desert Mr Corbyn.

"Within the Parliamentary Labour Party, there is real anger, particularly at Corbyn's continuing failure to deal with serious allegations of anti-Semitism, as exemplified by the farce over the off-on suspension of hard-Left backbencher and Corbyn acolyte Chris Williamson over charges of anti-Jewish prejudice," he said.

Mr Austin cited Labour's disastrous showings in the recent European and local elections as evidence that the party was being dragged "ever deeper into the mire of public contempt".

In a call for action to Labour MPs, he said: "Corbyn has never been more vulnerable. Even with the pack around him, Labour's brave MPs need to do all they can to rescue this once-great party, especially because he has alienated so many with his equivocations over Brexit.

"Furthermore, the same MPs have nothing to lose by moving against him. If he stays at the helm, they are going to lose their seats. Self-preservation, if nothing else, should compel them to act."

Labour's shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth put the poor polling performance down to Labour's failure to endorse the Remain position should there be a second referendum.

He urged Mr Corbyn to end the uncertainty by making clear that Labour “would campaign for Remain if there was a public vote".

“I suspect a lot of the people who voted for us in 2017 – young people, renters, and so on – I think a lot of the people who voted for us in 2017 and gave us that tremendous result are probably showing up in that opinion poll as supporting the Liberal Democrats,” he added.

It came as deputy leader and West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson called on grassroots members to sign up to a public declaration calling for Labour to be “the party of Remain”.

In an online statement, he wrote: “As the party of Remain, we will not take every voter with us, but it’s the only way that Labour can win, and the only way to keep our country together."

Mr Watson has repeatedly risked the ire of Mr Corbyn and his team by calling out the perceived failings of the party's Brexit strategy.