LABOUR leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said he will stand again if a new party leadership contest is held.

The defiant declaration was made in the face of building pressure for Corbyn to quit the Labour leadership, as Brussels unleashes a backlash against David Cameron's slow-motion EU exit plan.

Pro-Leave Labour MP and former minister Frank Field was the latest senior figure to break ranks and pour public scorn on Mr Corbyn's leadership abilities.

Mr Field said the Labour leader grasped voters' concern about globalisation, but drowned this out with "clap-trap", and could never win a possible snap general election in the autumn.

"He clearly isn't the right person to actually lead the party into an election because nobody thinks he will actually win. We clearly need somebody who the public think of as an alternative prime minister," Mr Field told BBC Radio Four's Today programme.

However, embattled Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to fight for his job if MPs attempt to topple him.

Facing a vote of no confidence next week, Mr Corbyn insisted he would run again if forced into a crisis leadership election which would be decided by grassroots members.

Asked if he would stand in such circumstances, he said: "Yes, I'm here, thank you."

Mr Corbyn added: "There are some people in the Parliamentary Labour Party who would probably want somebody else being the leader of this party, they have made that abundantly clear in the past few days."

But Mr Corbyn said he has been amazed at the more than 100,000 people who have signed a petition calling for him to stay.

Scotland

MEANWHILE, north of the border, Scotland is preparing to continue its fight to retain EU membership.

Following a cabinet meeting this morning, Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, says her government will enter into "immediate discussions" with Brussels.

Ms Sturgeon said:

"We are determined to act decisively but in a way that builds unity across Scotland about the way forward.

"As I said yesterday, a second independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table and is very much on the table.

"To ensure that that option is a deliverable one within the required timetable, steps will be taken now to ensure that the necessary legislation is in place. Cabinet this morning formally agreed that work."

What is Brussels saying?

OVER the sea in Brussels, pressure is being put on Britain to get moving with its decision to leave the EU.

Announcing his resignation on Friday, Prime Minister David Cameron said he would leave it to the successor chosen in October to trigger the two-year process of negotiations envisaged by Article 50 of the EU treaties.

But European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said the proposed delay "doesn't make sense", and he was backed by foreign ministers of the EU's six founding members, meeting in Berlin for emergency talks on Britain's seismic vote.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker insisted it was "not an amicable divorce", before adding sharply that it was never "a tight love affair anyway".

He said: "Britons decided that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn't make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure - I would like to get started immediately," he said.