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Birmingham MP Jess Phillips has had a panic room fitted to her office, following the death of Jo Cox.

And she carries an alarm which allows staff to listen in on conversations, in case she is being threatened.

The MP revealed the lengths she goes to protect her safety an in interview with BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.

Ms Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, also said again that she could sit as an independent MP rather than a Labour MP if Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected as party leader - confirming comments made previously.

And she said she did not "feel welcome" in the Labour Party because of the abuse she receives.

Ms Phillips accused party leader Jeremy Corbyn and his close ally John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, of "inciting" abuse against Labour MPs.

Fitting a panic room

Ms Phillips talked about security precautions she had taken since the death of Jo Cox, who was shot in June in her constituency near Leeds - including fitting a secure room in her office.

She said: "There is a panic room being fitted in my office.

"I now walk around with an alarm system that means that people can listen in to the conversations I am having in case I am put into any danger.

"There has been a huge change in how cavalier I am willing to be with my personal safety now."

Sitting as an independent

The MP was asked directly by BBC journalist Martha Kearney whether she would sit as an independent if Mr Corbyn wins the current Labour leadership contest.

She said: "I think at the moment we’ve just got to focus on how we’re going to get through this

"But the Labour Party is in a very difficult position at the moment with a lot of abuse being thrown around.

"it would be very very difficult for me to say that if Jeremy Corbyn wins and something doesn’t dramatically change in the way that people are being treated online, in the streets, our security, I can’t imagine why I would want to stay somewhere where I am so obviously not welcome."

In principle, sitting as an independent MP could mean resigning the Labour whip in the House of Commons without leaving the Labour Party.

'I don't feel welcome'

Mrs Phillips said: "I don't feel welcome from huge swathes of people from now the Labour Party. It would be wrong of me to say anything else.

"I every single day receive messages saying I am not good enough, that I should lose my job - and that’s the tamest stuff.

She continued: "Somebody thought it was funny to mock up a picture of a woman with a spear through their heart and put my face on it.

"I’ve got two small kids. I’m a human being.

"I am a woman who takes her kids on the school run. Nobody sees beyond the title and realises how damaging that is to somebody."

Jeremy Corbyn incites abuse

The BBC interviewer suggested that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, had condemned abuse.

Ms Phillips said: "Words is all well and good. I’d like to see some action. I’d like to see them calling out some of the very worst ringleaders.

"I’d like to see them actually praising the work that Labour MPs do around all sorts of issues and 'saying don’t you dare have a go at these people, they are doing a perfectly good job'.

"But I don’t hear that."

Mrs Phillips added: "I’d like to see them not inciting it. I’d like to see them not standing on platforms and encouraging the sort of action where crowds of people turn up outside MPs offices and stop what is actually our job."

Labour should have a woman leader

Mrs Phillips said: "I will be forever disappointed that the Labour Party seems incapable of putting a woman in the top job.

"It’s something we’ve got to to some very deep soul searching about."

Referring to Theresa May becoming the second female Conservative leader, she said: "The Conservative Party have the march on us."