ANDREW Smith has called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to stand down, despite opposing a vote of no-confidence against him.

Mr Smith was one of 40 MPS who voted against the motion on Tuesday evening but said he now believes Mr Corbyn should go.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail he said: "My instinct is always for unity in the party.

"But now it would be better for the future of the party and the country if he were to stand aside.

"This is not a situation I would necessarily have chosen to be in.

"We cannot go into a General Election with a leader with such lack of support from MPs and a significant section of the wider membership."

Mr Corbyn has faced calls to quit from a large number of MPs, many of whom are unhappy with what they perceive as his lacklustre campaigning to keep Britain in the EU.

Mr Smith said he felt Mr Corbyn had done much better than many pundits had expected since he became leader in September but that the time was right for him to go.

He said: "I have had more than 1,000 emails from members and supporters and it is about a 60-40 per cent split against Jeremy."

The majority of Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet have resigned since Friday but Mr Smith said he had not been asked to serve and was happy as a backbench MP.

He said he would continue to work to ensure Oxford gets "the best deal possible" from impending negotiations on Britain's future outside the EU.