Jeremy Corbyn has suffered his first Shadow Cabinet resignation after Catherine McKinnell said she was stepping down due to "concerns about the direction and internal conflict within the Labour party".
She said Mr Corbyn was leading the party down an “increasingly negative path” as she quit as Shadow Attorney General, the party’s legal officer.
Ms McKinnell's departure follows the resignation of three junior shadow ministers who stood down in protest at Mr Corbyn's contentious decision to sack Michael Dugher and Pat McFadden in his resuffle last week and install left-wing supporters in a bid to consolidate power over his frontbench and control over policy.
Minutes after Ms McKinnell announced her resignation it was confirmed that another Labour MP had quit - Paula Sheriff stood down as a parliamentary aide to Jon Trickett, who is one of Mr Corbyn's closest Shadow Cabinet members.
Ms McKinnell, a former employment solicitor who represents Newcastle North, announced on her website that she had sent a letter to Mr Corbyn telling him she had "shared your optimism for the 'new kind of politics' you spoke so compellingly about".
She added: "However, as events have unfolded over recent weeks, my concerns about the direction and internal conflict within the Labour party have only grown and I fear this is taking us down an increasingly negative path."
Ms McKinnell and Ms Sheriff's resignations take the total number of MPs to quit their positions over Mr Corbyn's reshuffle to six. Alison McGovern, a former aide to Gordon Brown, quit her role running the party's review into how to reduce child poverty on Sunday, although a Labour party spokesman said she was quitting from a role that did not exist because the review had not yet been launched.
It came after Mr Corbyn attempted to seize back the initiative after a damaging week of internal party divisions and criticism over his pro-longed reshuffle, which was completed nearly three days after it started.
On Monday morning he reiterated his determination to change the party's policy to oppose the renewal of Trident on Monday by saying Labour members would have a "big say" over the decision.
Mr Corbyn, a life-long unilateralist, said he was considering how to change the party’s policy on the issue, which currently supports the renewal of Britain’s fleet of four Trident ballistic missile submarines.
Mr Corbyn said party policy will either be determined by an individual vote with members or a vote at party conference.
See Ms McKinnell's resignation to Mr Corbyn below:
