Salford’s City Mayor and most Labour councillors are backing beleaguered Jeremy Corbyn.

They have sent a letter of support to the national Labour leader signed by Mayor Paul Dennett, and 28 of the 51 Labour councillors .

The pledge comes as a defiant Mr Corbyn said he will 'not betray' Labour members by resigning, despite three-quarters of the party’s MPs voting against him in a no confidence motion.

Just 40 MPs voted to back Mr Corbyn in the secret ballot, far short of the number needed to fill a complete frontbench.

In the letter from Salford, the councillors say: “We the undersigned reject what appears to be an organised coup, and the recent moves from Parliamentary Labour Party members to undermine the leadership of the party through mass resignation.”

It adds that despite ‘hostile media, biased political commentary and disloyalty within the ranks, the Labour Party under Corbyn’s leadership has consistently managed to increase its support.”

They say Mr Corbyn was elected with 60 per cent of the vote and more than 200,000 new members have joined the party since he became leader.

In a tough message to the likes of Manchester Central MP, Lucy Powell, and Worsley MP, Barbara Keeley, they add: “In light of this, we believe that recent actions of many MPs, seemingly involved in an organised coup, are reckless and damaging.

"At a time when the Conservative government is ripping itself to shreds over the outcome of the referendum, Labour MPs should be siding together to take the Labour message out to our communities.”

They say that continued public attacks on the leadership will only destabilise the party.

The letter concludes: “We entirely reject the rationale behind the decision to force the leadership coup and call for unity within the party during this turbulent period.”

Mr Corbyn was in support of Britain remaining in Europe, although he was criticised for his lukewarm support of the campaign.

The people of Salford vigorously voted to leave the European Union with a significant majority favouring Brexit.

A total of 62,385 voted to leave and 47,430 remain from a strong turnout of 63.3 per cent of voters.