LABOUR MPs will decide on a single “unity candidate” who will face Jeremy Corbyn in the party’s upcoming leadership election

Peers and MPs packed out a hustings event yesterday lunchtime in the Commons where Corbyn spoke along with Angela Eagle and Owen Smith, both of whom are challenging him for the top job.

A ballot to decide who will face off against Corbyn started at 7pm last night, with a mid-way tally announced today at 5pm.

The development comes as Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale launched a renewed attack on her party’s UK leader.

Dugdale said that while she respected Corbyn “a great deal”, she could not see how he could do his job after losing the confidence of his MPs.

Writing in her Daily Record, the Scottish Labour leader said: “The millions of people across the UK suffering at the hands of the Tories – those bearing the brunt of the cuts, those fearful for their jobs because of Brexit and those EU nationals who have no idea whether or not they can stay in their adopted homeland – aren’t getting the official opposition they deserve.

“To be blunt about it, the Labour Party aren’t functioning as they should right now.”

She added: “With Jeremy as leader, the chances of a UK Labour government in the near future are slim at best and non-existent at worst.

“The choice Labour members and supporters have at this leadership election is whether we want to be a party of government with real policies who can change people’s lives or a party purely of protest who can say what they are against but not what they are for.”

As the hustings got underway Dugdale also revealed she had appointed Ian Murray, who resigned as shadow Scottish sSecretary last month, as Scottish Labour’s Westminster spokesman.

“I’m pleased to welcome Ian to my shadow cabinet,” she said. “As Scotland’s only Labour MP, Ian has a crucial role to play in representing Scotland’s interests at Westminster and working to strengthen our party as he has done since he was re-elected last year.”

Murray said: “I look forward to continuing to play my part in rebuilding the fortunes of the Scottish Labour Party.

“As we look towards the local government elections and the next UK general election, we have to do all we can to strengthen our party, reach out to communities all across Scotland and speak to the vast majority of working people who need a Labour government in Scotland and across the UK..”

The leadership challenge from Eagle and Smith has exposed divisions in the Scottish party, with Dugdale’s deputy leader Alex Rowley among those backing Corbyn.

At the hustings yesterday, Corbyn also set out his stall but was “listened to in utter silence”, according to one backbencher.

Stephen Pound, who is supporting Eagle, said Smith had promised to pull out of the contest because he knows he has the higher number of supporters.

“Angela aced it,” he said. “She came up with this brilliant line. She said: ‘I didn’t have to learn my politics, I lived my politics’, and that was the real difference. She comes from a genuine, authentic working class background.”

Pound said Smith was “impressive” but comes from an “incredibly wealthy middle class background”, and said the party needs to reach out further.

Former shadow Commons leader Chris Bryant said Smith was the “only person” who could bind the party together.

Asked about one of the challengers pulling out to allow a unity candidate to go forward, he replied: “Angela refused to answer it and Owen was very, very clear in saying ‘I’m the unity candidate”