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Two top allies of Jeremy Corbyn urged Brexit-backing working class northerners to join Labour .

Party chairman Ian Lavery and Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jon Trickett issued the call to arms because they want Labour to “rebalance”.

They believe the party has been taken over by a Remain-backing, southern, metropolitan elite.

In an exclusive article the Mirror, they write: “We are calling for Labour supporters from working class backgrounds and from the North to join the party by January 20 and have their say in the upcoming leadership election.”

Their intervention comes as leadership candidates battle it out for the endorsement of unions and local parties so they can move to the next stage in the race to succeed Mr Corbyn.

(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, former Shadow Energy Secretary Lisa Nandy and backbencher Jess Phillips are bidding for the top job.

Mr Lavery has already voiced his support for Mrs Long-Bailey - the MP for Salford and Eccles, Gtr Manchester - in the leadership race while Mr Trickett is also thought to be backing her.

In an exclusive article the Mirror, they write: “We are calling for Labour supporters from working class backgrounds and from the North to join the party by January 20 and have their say in the upcoming leadership election.”

(Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Mirror)

Labour chairman Ian Lavery and Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jon Trickett write exclusively for the Mirror:

On April 4 Labour will elect a new leader and deputy leader.

Those elected will have a huge task on their hands to rebuild trust as they begin to chart the course for Labour once again to enter government.

This is a generational chance to have your say on who these people are.

When Labour wins, it is because a coalition of working and middle class people believe in our party to make Britain a better place.

We must rebuild this historic alliance right across our country in order to transform it positively.

Over the past few years Labour has become Western Europe’s largest political party and this is a welcome achievement.

However our membership is now disproportionately one that voted to Remain in the referendum and drawn from the South, mainly from metropolitan areas and from the middle classes.

Our decision and policy-making is increasingly informed by the opinions and experiences of those groups.

To win again the coalition of working and middle class people within our own party must be rebalanced.

That is why we are calling for Labour supporters from working class backgrounds and from the North to join the party by January 20 and have their say in the upcoming leadership election.