By William James
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faced a party rebellion on Friday over his support for triggering Brexit, after two MPs resigned from his policy team and others publicly promised to defy him on the issue.
Corbyn has ordered his MPs to support legislation published on Thursday which will allow Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May to begin the legal process of leaving the European Union.
That decision has strained Corbyn's authority over a party whose membership is deeply divided between its traditional working class voters, who strongly supported Brexit in England's struggling post-industrial regions, and pro-EU voters in more prosperous urban constituencies.
"I believe that leaving is a terrible mistake and I cannot reconcile my overwhelming view that to endorse the step that will make exit inevitable, is wrong,” wrote Jo Stevens, Labour's spokeswoman for Wales, in a resignation letter to Corbyn.
Stevens, whose constituency is in the Welsh capital of Cardiff which voted in favour of staying within the EU, said that she felt May was leading Britain towards a "brutal exit".
The resignation signalled an embarrassing internal rebellion for Corbyn that will come to a head when MPs vote for the first time on the legislation next Wednesday.
But is highly unlikely to result in a defeat for May, who retains a parliamentary majority and is expected to pass the new law and then formally trigger Brexit by the end of March.
For more on the process behind the Brexit legislation see here:
Corbyn has acknowledged the "pressures and issues" facing Labour MPs and said he will seek greater parliamentary oversight of the terms of Britain's exit, but on Thursday told his party to support the government bill.
"I say to everyone unite around the important issues of jobs, economy, security, rights, justice, and we will frame that relationship with Europe in the future - outside the EU but in concert with friends," he told Sky News.
Stevens was the second lawmaker to resign from Corbyn's shadow ministerial team after Tulip Siddiq, who represents an inner-London borough, quit on Thursday saying she could not betray the wishes of her constituents. Other MPs said publicly they would vote against the Brexit legislation.
Corbyn, who voted against Britain's membership of the EU's predecessor in 1975, was subject to a failed leadership challenge last year after the EU referendum, when MPs said he did not campaign hard enough to keep Britain in the bloc.
He comfortably defeated the challenge in a vote of the party's grassroots members, where support for his leftist agenda is much higher than among his elected MPs.