Angela Eagle to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leadership

Labour MP Angela Eagle will launch an official leadership challenge against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on 11 July after compromise talks between unions and the parliamentary party broke down. Eagle said she will "explain my vision for the country and the difference a strong Labour Party can make" on Monday.

Eagle's decision was announced soon after deputy leader Tom Watson admitted defeat in the last-ditch talks to broker a compromise between different factions of the party. In a statement released this morning, he said there was "no realistic prospect of reaching a compromise" with Corbyn over his future as Labour leader, who has decided to stay on "come what may".

Crisis talks had been expected to continue in Brighton over the weekend until Watson abruptly pulled out this morning (9 July).

Eagle, one of the most high-profile Labour frontbenchers to resign from Corbyn's shadow cabinet during the mass mutiny in June, is understood to have gathered the 51 nominations she needs from her party MPs and MEPs to launch the challenge. She is also believed to have a team in place to run the campaign.

Watson had been holding the opposition leader's two main challengers, Eagle and the former shadow environment secretary, Owen Smith back from launching bids, in the hopes that an agreement might be reached with Corbyn and his main backers in the unions, over transferring power to a different MP.

In a statement, Labour's deputy leader wrote: "Since the talks began, Jeremy has publicly declared his intention to continue as leader come what may. This means there is no realistic prospect of reaching a compromise that satisfies the majority of colleagues in the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party].

"It is with regret and profound sadness that I have concluded there is little to be achieved by pursuing wider conversations with our union affiliates at this time.

"The Labour party was founded with the explicit aim of pursuing the parliamentary path to socialism. Every Labour leader needs to command the support of their MPs in the parliamentary Labour party, as well as party members, in order to achieve that. It is clear to all that Jeremy has lost the support of the PLP with little prospect of regaining it."