DRACONIAN new rules are being imposed on Labour MPs to ensure party discipline as the party struggles with plummeting popularity.

Fresh standing orders for the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) make it clear that MPs must campaign wherever the party wishes — or face sanctions from whips.

The move to force MPs to canvass for candidates struggling around the country comes as party campaigners report mounting hostility to Labour on the doorstep, particularly in the wake of benefit cuts.

Labour is trying to force MPs to Runcorn in Cheshire, where it faces a struggle to hold the seat in an impending by-election following the resignation of MP Mike Amesbury after his conviction for public disorder.

The new standing orders enjoin MPs to “be an active campaigner within your constituency and deliver on key targets as agreed with your regional office/national party office.”

The proposed rules governing MPs’ conduct, a copy of which has been given to the Star, also mandate compliance with the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-semitism, examples of which appear to lean heavily towards protecting Israel from criticism.

Another clause instructs MPs to always “act in harmony with the policies of the PLP.”

Anyone breaching any of the rules faces a range of sanctions from the whips, up to and including permanent loss of membership of the PLP.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been notably more authoritarian than previous leaders in his application of party discipline, and suspended seven Labour MPs from the whip almost as soon as he entered office, for opposing the two-child benefit cap.

Zarah Sultana, John McDonnell and Apsana Begum remain suspended, nine months later.

It is unlikely that dispatching MPs north is going to help much in Runcorn, where local Labour supporters report vehement hostility from voters over the government’s actions.

Despite having a majority of over 13,000 at the general election, the party is facing a strong challenge from the hard-right Reform UK, which claims to be offering the “change” that Labour promised last year but has yet to deliver.

The party is also in trouble in local elections to be held next month, with a particularly high risk of losing Doncaster Council to Reform.

One Labour source told the Star that MPs don’t want to go to such seats because “they are scared to go … a lot don’t want to know — it is unpleasant and even unsafe.”