SHADOW cabinet members can’t stay on the front bench if they vote against the Brexit process, Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday.

The Labour leader told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: “It’s obviously impossible to carry on being in the shadow cabinet if you vote against a decision made after a very frank and very long discussion of the shadow cabinet earlier this week.”

Shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens and shadow early years minister Tulip Siddiq announced their resignations on Friday in response to the imposition of a three-line whip on Labour MPs to back the Bill that will open EU exit negotiations.

Both Ms Stevens’s and Ms Siddiq’s constituencies — Cardiff Central and Hampstead & Kilburn — voted Remain in last year’s EU referendum. Ms Stevens said Brexit was a “terrible mistake.”

Labour whips Jeff Smith and Thangam Debbonaire — who are meant to enforce party discipline — have indicated they will rebel in this week’s vote, according to the Press Association, which also suggested that more resignations would follow after Mr Corbyn said he had made it clear that Article 50, the cue for Brexit talks, “has to be implemented.”

A vote on Article 50 is now mandatory after the Supreme Court ruled last week that the government must have the permission of Parliament before starting the two-year process to leave the EU.

Mr Corbyn insisted that Labour planned to secure crucial amendments to the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill and said that quitting was a premature move.

He told Robert Peston: “There was no need for anyone to resign at this stage.”

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said the divisions in the party would be handled sensitively and suggested some of the rebels could be back in senior roles within months.