A number of major donors have said they will not to donate to the party if Jeremy Corbyn is elected

Some of Labour's biggest donors have vowed to stop giving the party cash if Jeremy Corbyn is elected leader in September

At least four of the troubled party's most generous supporters have now confirmed they will stop donating to Labour should the Islington North MP become the new leader.

Hardline left winger Mr Corbyn's campaign has been gathering speed, but many fear his close ties to the unions and his spending plans will see them locked out of power for decades.

Assem Allam, who has given more than £500,000 in recent years, Richard Brindle, who gave £100,000, and a third, anonymous donor all revealed their mistrust to The Sunday Telegraph.

Mr Allam, who owns Hull City Football Club, said he feared Labour would be 'locked out of power' for decades under Corbyn, adding he never 'backed a dead horse'.

'I don't want a Prime Minister or a leader of the party – in opposition or in government – who is controlled by trade unions,' he told the paper.

Meanwhile, Mr Brindle acknowledged Mr Corbyn was 'a man of great integrity', but called his policies 'economically illiterate', while the third donor said it would be 'back to the nightmare of the 1980s' if Corbyn won.

Their comments came after John Mills - Labour's biggest individual donor - voiced his own concerns.

'The Labour party has a spectrum of donors,' he said.

'I suspect that some of the major donors would be less likely to give, and so the amount of donations would go down. But at the same time donations from trade unions could go up.'