A VETERAN Labour councillor has spoken out in defence of Jeremy Corbyn after what he calls an act of ‘blatant rebellion.’

Coun Derique Montaut, (Lab - Liden, Eldene and Park South), has been a member of the Labour Party for 40 years and served as Mayor of Swindon in 1990.

He chose to speak out in support of his party leader as pressure mounts for him to resign following the resignation of two thirds of his shadow cabinet.

“This is nothing to do with the EU referendum,” said Coun Montaut.

“It’s Blairite MPs taking a personal dislike to him and trying to undermine him.

“I’ve been in the party for 40 years and I’ve never seen such a blatant rebellion – if this continues it will cause a major split in the party.

“I will not be part of any such rebellion.”

Corbyn was elected by an overwhelming majority of party members last year but he has never been able to win the support of his own MPs.

They claim that he has failed to connect with voters and that he doesn’t have the ability to unite the party moving forward.

With an early General Election looking likely later this year, MPs began to resign from his team en masse at the weekend as calls for his resignation mounted.

Despite this, Corbyn has refused to budge – he has called on rebels to mount a formal leadership challenge, vowing to stand again if they do.

Coun Montaut, who has previously led the Labour group in Swindon, said: “At every turn, right from his election, he has been obstructed.

“If he stands again I will vote for him – I will fight back against individuals and groups seeking to undermine his leadership.”

Coun Montaut’s intervention comes just a day after two of Swindon’s former Labour parliamentary candidates – Mark Dempsey and Anne Snelgrove – signed a letter along with 55 other former candidates calling on Corbyn to step down.