The leader of the UK’s fifth-biggest union who has recently rejoined the Labour party after a 25-year absence has called for activists to be allowed to democratically unseat their MPs.

Mark Serwotka, the head of the radical Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union and a close associate of Jeremy Corbyn, said that upcoming boundary changes will give thousands of new members an opportunity to change their parliamentary representatives. He called for “no obstacles” to be put in their way if they wish to choose a new MP.

Serwotka’s comments will alarm some on the right of the party who have sought assurances that Corbyn’s supporters are not preparing to use the boundary commission’s changes to get rid of the Labour leader’s critics.

The parliamentary Labour party (PLP) is bracing itself for a bruising meeting on Monday at which Corbyn is expected to be challenged over his support for decriminalisation of the sex industry, campaigning on the EU and the party’s expected performance in upcoming local elections.

Some Labour MPs are expected to voice their opposition to Corbyn’s comments as others vent broader frustration at his leadership.

Corbyn attended last week’s PLP meeting – at which Jon Trickett, the shadow cabinet minister in charge of Labour’s strategy for May’s local elections, gave a presentation – but the session was broken up when MPs had to vote and the leader irritated some present by failing to return to take questions.

With the budget due in just over a week, Corbyn and his team will seek to shift the party’s focus to their economic policies with an “economy action day” planned for next Saturday aimed at highlighting Labour’s opposition to austerity.

In a further development, a prominent Labour MP has claimed that Labour will “absolutely not” win the next general election.

On Sunday Jess Phillips, the MP for Birmingham Yardley dismissed Labour’s chances of victory in 2020 as a former cabinet minister, Yvette Cooper, warned that the party and trade union movement risked being “left behind” unless it changed to deal with the challenges facing modern Britain.

But Corbyn’s opponents in the party will take little comfort from Serwotka’s combative comments. In his first interview since rejoining the party on Tuesday, he urged the leadership to ensure that local members can choose their MPs.



“MPs should reflect their local parties. But if they don’t, the local party must be allowed to exercise their democratic right to make a different selection. My understanding is that this is within the rules but it hasn’t been adhered to by different leaders, particularly under [Tony] Blair.

“Boundary changes will mean that it is inevitable that there will have to be selections of MPs in a large number of constituencies. There should be no obstacles put in activists’ way. I think that there is a very important principle here. If you call on people to join the party and then say to them that you can never change who represents you, what is the point in joining?” he asked.

MPs will find out in six months whether their constituencies are likely to be scrapped for the 2020 election, after the Boundary Commissions began their controversial review to identify 50 seats to abolish.

High-profile MPs who may have to seek nomination in new or substantially redrawn seats include Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, who clashed publicly with the Labour leader over UK air strikes in Syria, as well as six former shadow ministers at odds with Corbyn including Chuka Umunna, Tristram Hunt, Chris Leslie, Emma Reynolds, Liam Byrne and Stella Creasy.

Serwotka, whose union represents public sector workers, said that he wants to help Corbyn turn the party into a genuinely socialist party that organises against cuts in services. “I think this is a pivotal period. The Tories’ onslaught is relentless. We are seeing services decimated, jobs being cut.

“It is a crucial moment for Jeremy because it is fairly clear that there are those within Labour and the parliamentary party who do not agree with anything he is doing,” he said.

Serwotka was kicked out of the party in 1992 for membership of the Trotskyist group Socialist Organiser and was barred from voting in last summer’s leadership election on the grounds that he did not share the “aims and values” of the Labour party.

Serwotka warned Corbyn’s critics from moving against the Labour leader. “I am sure people will think very long and hard before trying to unseat someone who has the biggest popular mandate of any political party leader ever. I have no doubt that if the PLP moved against him, Jeremy would be returned by the membership in any subsequent election,” he said.

“I make no bones about it. If Chuka Umunna [were] the leader of the Labour party I wouldn’t be joining,” he said.



The PLP meeting looks set to be a robust encounter after prominent Labour MPs, including Harriet Harman, Caroline Flint and Jess Phillips, reacted with fury to Corbyn’s comments on prostitution. “I am in favour of decriminalising the sex industry,” he told students at Goldsmith’s university in London, adding that he wanted to “do things a bit differently and in a bit more [of a] civilised way”.

How best to help sex workers is a hugely controversial issue on the left. Some, led by campaign group the English Collective of Prostitutes, argue that decriminalisation would allow regulation to limit the dangers. Others warn it would leave vulnerable women exposed to abuse.



• The standfirst of this article was changed on 7 March 2016 to better reflect the content of the story.