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Labour’s leadership contenders need to explain how they will stop traditional supporters in the North of England defecting to UKIP, a North East MP has warned.

Chi Onwurah, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central, said Labour risked taking working class voters for granted.

The debate over the party leadership must not be allowed to focus solely on how to win support from wealthier voters in the south of England, she said.

“We need to appeal to people in South Shields as well as Surrey,” said Mrs Onwurah.

She was speaking after former South Shields MP David Miliband demanded a return to the “New Labour” approach associated with Tony Blair, sparking a bad-tempered row within the party.

Mrs Onwurah pointed out that during the South Shields by-election in 2013, which was triggered by Mr Miliband’s decision to quit Parliament, many former Labour voters switched to UKIP because they were disillusioned with the party.

Mr Miliband has argued that the party lost the general election under the leadership of his brother Ed Miliband because it returned to the past and appeared hostile to business.

He told broadcaster CNN: “The public have concluded that instead of building on the strengths and remedying the weaknesses of the Blair years, the party has turned the page backwards rather than turning the page forward.”

And calling for a more pro-business approach, he said the party needed a “combination of economic dynamism and social justice”.

But the comments provoked an angry response from John Prescott, Labour’s former Deputy Leader, who retorted: “He should shut up. Look, we’ve gone through that period, the Miliband period is now gone.”

Referring to Mr Miliband’s current job leading US-based humanitarian organisation the International Rescue Committee, Lord Prescott said: “Get on with your international job. Don’t come over here telling us we do.”

Mrs Onwurah warned that Labour needed to appeal to North East voters as well as trying to win over wealthier parts of the south.

She said: “I walked the streets of South Shields in the by-election there. David should know we shouldn’t be taking voters in places like South Shields for granted as Labour voters.

“There was a significant proportion of his constituents who were disillusioned with Labour and thinking of voting UKIP, which many of them did.

“We have got to have a leader who can win hearts and minds in places like South Shields as well as Surrey.

“Labour shouldn’t take the North East for granted.”She also rejected a suggestion from Alastair Campbell, who was Director of Communications and Strategy in Tony Blair’s Labour government, that the new Labour leader should be given three years to prove they can do the job.

She said: “You can’t elect somebody for just three years. It’s not a staging post.

“But I do think we should be more open about whether their leadership is working. And the leader themselves reviewing their own performance.”

Mrs Onwurah has nominated London MP Jeremy Corbyn for the post of party leader, but said she would not necessarily be voting for him. Candidates must be nominated by 35 MPs to stand in the election, allowing Labour members and supporters to choose between them, and Mrs Onwurah said she believed it was important to offer a wide range of candidates.

Mr Corbyn is seen as the most left-wing of the leadership contenders. Other potential candidates include Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, who is backed by many North East MPs, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Shadow Social Care Minister Liz Kendall and Shadow International Development Secretary Mary Creagh, who like Mr Corbyn is seen as an outsider in the race.