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A call by Labour MPs to help the Green Party by withdrawing from two general election seats has been shut down by Jeremy Corbyn .

Three MPs including former Shadow Cabinet member Clive Lewis had urged Labour to pull out of Brighton Pavilion and the Isle of Wight in a so-called "progressive alliance", uniting the anti-Tory vote.

They claimed it could "unlock further positive moves" from the Greens, who have stood aside in Ealing Central and Action to help Labour's Rupa Huq.

But Mr Corbyn told the Mirror today: "We're a party for the whole country and we therefore have reached the position where we campaign in all parts of the country.

"We are a party for everybody."

A statement by Mr Corbyn's office ruled out the idea, saying: "Labour is fighting to win this election.

"[We] will field candidates in every seat, with the exception of the speaker's on grounds of parliamentary protocol."

(Image: PA) (Image: REUTERS)

Asked if he would be speaking to Clive Lewis, Mr Corbyn chuckled and said: "I speak to Clive Lewis very often, he's a very good friend of mine and I'm very sure he's going to be re-elected in Norwich. He's doing well."

Former policy chief Jon Cruddas and former shadow children's minister Tulip Siddiq co-authored a bid for the plan in a letter to the Guardian.

They wrote: "With the progressive vote split, the danger of a Tory landslide and all it means for our country now looms darkly on 8 June."

Calling for Labour to step aside in two seats, they added: "Not only would it be doing the right thing morally, it could unlock further positive moves from the Green party and its supporters in a swath of other seats."

(Image: REUTERS)

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The letter was also signed by Labour peers Helena Kennedy and Ruth Lister, MP Tulip Siddiq and left-wingers Billy Bragg, Paul Mason and Owen Jones.

Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas is the MP in Brighton Pavilion, with Labour coming second on 27% of the vote in 2015.

Brighton Pavilion - 2015 general election result

The Greens came third on the Isle of Wight in 2015 behind UKIP and the Tories, whose MP Andrew Turner is standing down after 16 years following claims he told school pupils homosexuality was a "danger to society".

Labour came fourth on the island in 2015 with 13% of the vote.

The MPs' letter said in both seats, "Labour has no realistic hope of winning". They added: "Labour now has to give something back to gain even more."

Isle of Wight - 2015 general election result

Labour's leader spoke on a drizzly visit to activists outside Clapham Junction ASDA in Battersea - a London seat with a Tory majority of almost 8,000.

He was campaigning after Labour announced a crackdown on rogue landlords that pledges new minimum standards, tougher council powers and fines.

Cars honked their horns as he was joined by Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey who said: "Let's get signing, let's get campaigning and let's fight to win."

Mr Corbyn spoke at length to 32-year-old psychologist Jo Dunn, who is in a three-bed house share costing more than £2,000 a month.

And he chatted to 66-year-old Micheline Mason, who sat in a wheelchair and wore an "I am a Corbynista" badge.