The Labour Party has just released an email to staff members abour redundancies.

It states:

"The objective of all of us is that the Party should be a 'one term opposition'. To achieve this we need to make changes which are sometimes painful but necessary like those I’ve described above. I know this is not easy, but if we are to show people we are serious about cutting the debts of the country then we must also cut the debts of The Labour Party."

Labour sources say that there will only be a "handful" of redunancies but they are necessary to "balance the books".

The party will have to make estimated savings of £1.7m.