Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour critics warned to stop carping and “put up or shut up” Jeremy Corbyn’s allies challenged his Labour opponents to “put up or shut up” as the party avoided the slump in […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s allies challenged his Labour opponents to “put up or shut up” as the party avoided the slump in support in the English council elections forecast by his critics.

In the first major test of his leadership, Labour held on to power in key marginal authorities in the South and Midlands and retained its dominance of its northern heartlands.

However, it failed to make significant advances, prompting warnings from some Labour MPs that the party was treading water and not heading for victory at the next general election.

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The result was good enough to snuff out speculation about an attempted coup against Mr Corbyn’s leadership this summer.

The shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, urged Mr Corbyn’s critics:

“For goodness sake, get behind our leader. It’s time to put up or shut up. Get behind us and stop carping.”

To the Labour hierarchy’s relief, it retained control of several councils considerable vulnerable to the Tories, including Crawley, Derby, Exeter, Harlow, Hastings, Nuneaton, Redditch and Southampton.

Held on in cities

It lost its majority at Dudley in the West Midlands, but held on to major cities including Birmingham, Newcastle and Sunderland.

By 7pm last night, Labour had lost 24 seats in England, far fewer than many predictions. The Conservatives had lost 34, while the Liberal Democrats were up by 36 and the UK Independence Party was up 26.

The results suggested that Labour’s share of the vote had risen by 1 per cent since last year’s general election – enough for the party to argue that it was making progress.Its share was put at 31 per cent, compared with 30 per cent for the Tories, 15 per cent for the Lib Dems and 12 per cent for Ukip.

However, it was the poorest performance by an opposition party in council elections (apart from general election years) for more than 30 years.

Michael Dugher, the Barnsley East MP who was sacked from the shadow Cabinet by Mr Corbyn, argued that Labour was “not on a trajectory” to defeat the Conservatives in 2020.

‘Standing still’

Emma Reynolds, who quit the shadow Cabinet when Mr Corbyn became leader, said Labour should not be content with “standing still” at a time of Tory disarray, and should have notched up significant gains.

“He should decide whether his leadership is helping or hindering the party. I think all the evidence shows it is not helping.” David Winnick MP

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, urged MPs to rally behind Mr Corbyn and called for patience from “colleagues who are coming out with intemperate remarks”.

The veteran Labour backbencher, David Winnick, MP for Walsall North, urged Mr Corbyn to consider his position. “The party faces a crisis and the onus is on Jeremy himself. He should decide whether his leadership is helping or hindering the party. I think all the evidence shows it is not helping,” he said.

The Liberal Democrats drew comfort from indications that their support is finally recovering after five years in the electoral doldrums.

They retained control of Watford and Eastleigh and the former MP John Leech won a seat on Labour-dominated Manchester City Council.