When will Jeremy Corbyn step down? What we know about timetable for the Labour leader’s departure After a bruising election defeat for Labour, Corbyn said he won’t lead the party in another poll, but he won’t step down immediately either

After a bruising election defeat for Labour Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he will be resigning as leader and will not lead the party into another election.

As the final results trickled in, Labour was left with just 203 seats – down from the 262 it won in the 2017 general election and the 243 it held when Parliament was dissolved in November.

It is the worst result for his party since the 1930s, leaving Mr Corbyn little choice but to step down and make way for a successor.

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When will he step down?

Mr Corbyn was under pressure to stand down immediately as leader but said he was not going to “run away”.

In an interview with the BBC Mr Corbyn gave the first indication as to when he would actually resign, suggesting it would be early in 2020.

He said Labour’s ruling committee will have to meet first to decide on the next steps before he formally resigns and makes way for a replacement leader.

Mr Corbyn said: “The National Executive will have to meet, of course, in the very near future and it is up to them. It will be in the early part of next year.”

Responding to what has widely be seen as a disastrous set of results for Labour, which saw a string of its strongholds fall to the Tories, Mr Corbyn said he would not be leading the party into another general election.

When asked why he wasn’t standing down immediately, Mr Corbyn said: “I was elected to lead the party and I think the responsible thing to do is not to walk away from the whole thing – and I won’t do that. I will stay here until somebody is elected to succeed me and then I will step down at that point.

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“I just think we need to have some consideration of the effect this has on politics when the whole of [the] political debate is seen through the prism of personal abuse and personal attacks.

“I never indulge in personal abuse or personal attacks, I never attack anybody personally, and the words I’ve often used is, ‘I won’t get into the gutter because I think our lives and our politics is too important for that’.”

Speaking after retaining his Islington North seat, Mr Corbyn said he plans to take Labour through a “process of reflection” while it considers the way forward.

“I will discuss with our party to ensure there is a process now of reflection on this result and on the policies that the party will take going forward,” he said.

“And I will lead the party during that period to ensure that discussion takes place and we move on into the future.”

But he has been rounded on by angry Labour MPs and defeated candidates since the result, who said his leadership was to blame for the party’s catastrophic showing and called on him to go.

What happens after he resigns?

Once Mr Corbyn officially steps down as Labour leader, the process to elect his replacement will commence.

In order to stand in the leadership a candidate must have enough support from their fellow MPs to get on the ballot paper in the first place, and then will need the support of Labour members to win.

Here are the runners and riders:

Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit Secretary

Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow Business Secretary

Angela Rayner, shadow Education Secretary

Emily Thornberry, shadow Foreign Secretary

John McDonnell, shadow Chancellor

Jonathan Ashworth, shadow Health Secretary

Yvette Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and

Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South

Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley

Read more about how the potential candidates here.

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