A FORMER Worcester Labour MP has taken a swipe at Jeremy Corbyn - saying they have "no chance" of getting the city's seat back after the Copeland result.

Mike Foster held the Worcester seat for long13 years before defeat in 2010, as the city's first and only ever Labour parliamentarian.

The ex-international development minister, a Blairite, has used social network Twitter to aim fire at the under-pressure leader.

"If we can't hold Copeland we have no chance of retaking Worcester, therefore no chance of forming a Government. Simples," he said.

Worcester News:

The remarks will heap more pressure on Mr Corbyn after a dismal outcome in the Copeland seat, a former Labour stronghold in Cumbria.

Tory candidate Trudy Harrison grabbed the seat from Labour in the first by-election gain for a governing party since 1982 after a six per cent swing.

It was also the first time since 1935 that Labour had failed to win the constituency, sparking fresh criticism of Mr Corbyn's leadership.

Current Worcester Tory MP Robin Walker said: "It's interesting that Mike should take that view.

"He has a point, although of course they are two different seats in two different parts of the country - Jeremy Corbyn clearly has real problems."

Mr Foster, who was first elected to represent Worcester in the Commons in 1997, is a long-standing critic of Mr Corbyn's leadership.

Two years ago he emailed Labour Party members across the city urging them to not vote for him, telling them: "It really is as simple as ABC - Anyone But Corbyn."

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The letter led to him getting abusive messages back from some party members in the city - and since then its membership has rocketed to over 1,000 people, with the rise of left wing campaign group Momentum a significant factor.

Mr Corbyn is expected to skip the weekly gathering of Labour MPs in Westminster tonight - Andrew Gwynne, who ran the party’s campaign in Copeland and Ian Lavery, a shadow Cabinet minister will lead the tough discussions instead.

Mr Corbyn has said Labour's by-election loss shows "the scale of how hard our task is to persuade people of our message".

While the party lost in Cumbria, Labour did manage to hold off a challenge from UKIP in a by-election in Stoke-on-Trent last week.