LONDON: Left-winger Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected British Labour leader on Saturday, seeing off a challenge from his MPs but leaving the opposition party deeply divided, with its very future in question. Supporters in Liverpool, northwest England cheered the 67-year-old as results confirmed that he had defeated rival MP Owen Smith with 61.8 percent of the vote among party members and supporters. Corbyn, first elected this time last year, increased his share of the vote from then, when he received 59.5 percent after putting an anti-austerity, anti-nuclear agenda at the forefront of British politics for the first time in a generation. “Elections are passionate and often partisan affairs and some things are often said in the heat of the debate that we later come to regret,” he said after the result was announced. “We have much more in common than that which divides us. “As far as I’m concerned, let’s wipe that slate clean from today and get on with the work we’ve got to do as a party together.” The result is a major blow to Labour MPs who launched a vote of no confidence against Corbyn after June’s Brexit vote, arguing that he failed to campaign hard enough to keep Britain in the European Union. They complain that his left-wing views can never win power, and bitter rows, marked by allegations of intimidation and bullying by Corbyn supporters, have sparked fears of a split in the century-old party.