MPs have been forced to defend seats after party rule changes made it easier to remove them

A fifth female Labour MP is facing the threat of being removed by her local party, it has emerged.

Kate Osamor, the Labour MP for Edmonton, is expected to have to fight to keep her seat after local party members decided to trigger a new selection process. It is the latest in a series of attempts to unseat Labour MPs, after party rule changes made the process easier.

Osamor, who served in the shadow cabinet until resigning last year, is on the left of the party and a staunch supporter of Jeremy Corbyn. It is unclear why the action has been taken against her, though party sources said there had been some local discontent that she had secured the seat ahead of other candidates.

There is concern among MPs that women are more likely to face deselection threats. However, Labour has rebutted such concerns as unfounded, saying only a small number of MPs have fallen victim to trigger ballots.

Diana Johnson, the Kingston upon Hull North MP, and Margaret Hodge, the Barking MP, have both had their seats being contested by “trigger ballots” put forward by local parties, which means they will have to convince members they should stay on as their MP, after being challenged by a shortlist of other candidates.

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Emma Lewell-Buck, the South Shields MP, has also faced pressure from local members while Louise Ellman, who is Jewish and the MP for Liverpool Riverside, has faced calls to resign. Roger Godsiff, the MP for Birmingham Hall Green, is the only man to face a deselection battle so far.

Lewell-Buck has said she is facing pressure because she is not “the chosen man”.

She added: “Women in politics always have a tough job, but I think there’s particular areas where there’s been a longstanding culture of misogyny, and something the Labour party centrally has been unable to get to the bottom of in South Shields.”

There were also concerns that MPs on the right of the party would be ousted for disloyalty to Corbyn, following the rule changes that made removing them easier. However, prominent opponents of Corbyn have already survived the process.

Osamor resigned from Corbyn’s shadow cabinet after suggestions she had misled the public over her son’s drug conviction. He was handed a community sentence after being caught with drugs worth £2,500 at Bestival in Dorset last year.