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Labour was mired in fresh turmoil last night over whether to back a second Brexit referendum amid mounting warnings Jeremy Corbyn faces frontbench resignations either way.

The party leader was warned he was “pushing us to the edge” as he continued to resist calls to throw Labour ’s weight behind a fresh EU vote.

Remain-supporting Shadow Ministers are poised to quit if he fails to endorse a new poll.

But a handful of frontbenchers from Leave-backing constituencies are ready to walkaway if he does back another referendum.

One Shadow Minister told the Mirror there was growing anger on both sides at Mr Corbyn’s ongoing failure to back or rule out a fresh poll.

(Image: Runcorn Weekly News)

They believed some pro-EU frontbench colleagues were poised to quit, but added: “I doubt it would be as many as 10.”

However, another MP claimed it could be as many as 30, saying: “If there is no movement towards compromise then Corbyn risks the split becoming a full-scale chasm.”

A group of Remainer Labour MPs dubbed the “splitters” and who demand a second vote could breakaway within days over a combination of factors, including Mr Corbyn’s reluctance to support a second referendum and the rumbling anti-Semitism row.

One of those tipped to quit the party, former Shadow Chancellor Chris Leslie, fuelled claims of an imminent split over Brexit, telling the Commons: “The idea that the Labour Party is not together and arguing against this tragedy, against this disaster, is for me entirely heartbreaking.”

Another MP who could walkout, Angela Smith, told the BBC: “On Brexit, on Venezuela, on anti-Semitism, on economic policy, we are being pushed to the very edge and it’s for Jeremy Corbyn really to answer that question.

“He needs to show the Labour Party is a broad church and that it’s prepared to adopt policy that will appeal to the vast majority of people.

(Image: PA)

“He’s pushing us to the edge.”

Sympathisers believe the leadership would dismiss a breakaway group of centrists as “dirty Blairites”.

They would be likely to sit as Independent MPs before potentially forming a new party, modelling themselves on France’s En Marche! movement which propelled Emmanuel Macron to power.

The faction is thought to have set two potential deadlines for Mr Corbyn to get behind a new referendum as the clock ticks down to the UK’s scheduled departure on March 29.

They are the week of February 25 - when the Commons is set to face another raft of crunch votes - and the date of the “meaningful vote”, when Theresa May brings back a deal to Parliament having, she hopes, won concessions from Brussels on the Irish backstop.

Yet the Mirror understands about five Labour frontbenchers opposed to a second referendum would resign if the leadership backed another EU vote.

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

Corbyn-backing pro-Remain MPs yesterday rallied in Parliament under the banner of “love socialism, hate Brexit”.

Frontbenchers Clive Lewis, Matt Rodda, Paul Sweeney, Chi Onwurah and Rachael Maskell, and backbenchers Lloyd Russell Moyle, Alex Sobel, Ged Killen and Rosie Duffield, blasted “Tory Brexit”.

They insisted they supported Mr Corbyn despite his reluctance to back a second referendum.

Laura Parker, head of the grassroots Momentum campaign which is key to keeping Mr Corbyn in power, was also there.

Demanding a “progressive vision for Europe”, Mr Russell Moyle warned would-be defectors: “If that vision includes setting up another party - leave the room now, if that vision includes bitching about the Labour Party or leadership then leave the room now.”

Shadow Treasury Minister Mr Lewis warned Labour risked being “utterly and comprehensively destroyed” at the next general election if it allows the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal to pass.

He said: “We are now sending some mixed messages out there and that is truly dangerous.”

The MP compared Labour’s stance on EU withdrawal with how the Lib Dems tried to soften austerity while in coalition with the Conservatives.

(Image: PA)

The party slumped from 56 seats at the 2010 election to just eight at the 2015 poll.

Mr Lewis said: “They were utterly and comprehensively destroyed by the British public and not forgiven because they facilitated austerity - they facilitated the Tories doing that.”

Later, he tweeted: “For the purpose of clarity, I’m for saving @UKLabour, not leaving it.

“Those looking for reasons to jump ship should just go. Theirs is vanity politics.”

Earlier, key Corbyn ally Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, warned a new public vote “threatens the whole democratic fabric on which we operate” and “is not the best option for our nation”.

Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson urged MPs not to leave the party.

He told the BBC: “I want this party to stay together.

“As I have said before at our conference, I think people should stay and fight their corner.

“We need an electorally viable Labour Party.”

Asked if a breakaway of some Labour MPs was inevitable, he said: “I hope it isn’t.

“And I hope people should do everything they can to try and stop it from happening.

“For the last two years I have been trying to hold everyone together.

“And I think we need all the voices around the top table of the Labour Party. We need all traditions represented.

“People expect the Labour Party to be united.”