RMT activist Eddie Dempsey insisted that “bringing people together to call a general election” should be the left’s priority after two activist journalists pulled out of a rally because of his presence.

Ash Sarkar and Owen Jones said they would no longer speak at Tuesday’s People’s Assembly rally calling for a general election after an attack on Twitter by Pete Radcliff, who was expelled from Labour in 2016 for supporting the Alliance for Workers Liberty.

Mr Radcliff said he could not believe that they would “share a platform with someone like Eddie Dempsey who openly supports No Deal in complete opposition to Labour’s policy.”

Ms Sarkar then said that she had agreed “before I saw the speakers list” and would pull out. Owen Jones replied “same — and I’ll be focusing my energy on building for tomorrow’s big #StoptheCoup demo.”

But Mr Dempsey told the Morning Star that the fight to bring down Boris Johnson should not be policed on Leave or Remain lines.

“The referendum has brought out the limits of the political system and what happens when the people vote against that system’s interests,” he said.

“The royal prorogue is just another example and raises the question of moving beyond the last feudal relics of the system. An election is the only way out of this. That requires bringing people together on the socialist left whether they are Leave or Remain, as we have done before and will have to do again when all this is settled. The real problem is we need to own this country, and we don’t.”