Veteran Labour MP, Margaret Hodge, and prominent critic of Jeremy Corbyn, has been triggered for reselection contest by her local constituency party.

She will now faces a selection contest that she must win to remain the Labour candidate for Barking at the next General Election.

In a statement, Hodge said: “I am obviously disappointed. My priority remains serving the people of Barking as I have done for the last 25 years. At a vital time for the country, with a general election looming, we should be focusing our efforts on holding Boris Johnson and the Tories to account.

“I will work to secure the full backing of Barking Labour party, so I can continue to play my part as their MP in doing that.”

Hodge has served as MP for Barking in east London since 1994.

Under reformed Labour rules, a selection contest can be triggered if a third of local Labour branches vote in favour.

Member of Barking CLP, John Pawson, stated said, “I find it deeply frustrating that my MP dedicates so much time to attacking our party and our leader, especially a time when we face the Tories crashing out of the EU without a deal, and when we’re up against a Prime Minister who shuts down democracy when it doesn’t suit him, whose comments have incited a 375% increase in hate crime, and whose list of potential crimes range from sexual harassment to corruption and misuse of public money.

“The stakes are too high for us to not be united as a party. “