Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has seen off the challenge from Owen Smith it has been confirmed today.

He won 61.8 per cent of the vote to retain his position of party leader following this summer's leadership contest.

Mr Corbyn's share of the vote has increased marginally from the 59 per cent he won a year ago and he received 313,209 of the votes cast, compared with 193,229 for Mr Smith.

After Mr Corbyn's victory was announced in Liverpool he thanked Labour volunteers for their hard work over the summer and Mr Smith for an interesting series of debates.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who voted for Owen Smith, said it was a "thumping win" for Jeremy Corbyn.

"The time now is for unity - the crucial thing now is that the Labour Party unites and Jeremy has to reach out to members of the Parliamentary Labour Party who had concerns about his leadership.

"I think we have been an effective opposition already, forcing defeat on tax credits, but we need to show not just that we can be an effective opposition but also a potential party of government."

Mr Smith urged Mr Corbyn to focus on the government policy of promoting new grammar schools, which he predicted could "unravel."

Prospective parliamentary candidate for Witney Duncan Enright, who also voted for Owen Smith, was in Liverpool for the annual party conference.

He said: "Now is the time to wipe the slate clean, unite and fight on the issues that matter."

Before the result was announced, shadow home secretary Andy Burnham warned that Labour MPs needed to rally round Mr Corbyn if he was re-elected as party leader.

He said the damage to the party could be "terminal" unless Mr Corbyn was given a proper chance to get his message across to voters.

However, Labour grandee David Blunkett warned the chances of peace between Mr Corbyn and the majority of his MPs appeared "minuscule" and questioned whether any sort of workable compromise was possible.

Mr Burnham, who was neutral in the contest, said that once the result was announced the two sides needed to find a "new consensus" to enable them to work together.

He said that Labour MPs who walked out of the shadow cabinet should be prepared to serve on the frontbench and "to do so constructively".

At the same time he said the attacks on MPs and threats of de-selection by Mr Corbyn's hardline supporters in Momentum needed to stop, while the leader had to show that he was making real progress with the public.

"We cannot have another year like the one that we have just had. If we do, the differences could become irreconcilable and the damage terminal. We cannot have that. The war of attrition has got to stop," Mr Burnham told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"Whoever wins needs to be given time to get their message over to the public. That is what you have earned the right to do as leader of the Labour Party."

Lord Blunkett, a former home secretary in Tony Blair's government, questioned whether any sort of workable compromise was possible.

"In the days ahead, it will be critical to avoid knee-jerk reactions. No frenetic pronouncements or ill-thought-through resolutions," he said.

"Those with an ounce of political understanding, grasp of history and appreciation of why the Conservatives have been so successful at holding onto power appreciate the need for caution and careful deliberation.

"To get this wrong would lead to consequences way beyond the falling out of political friends or the demise of a once great political party. The question for us all is this: Is a workable compromise a genuine option?"

In a video message to supporters, Mr Corbyn insisted that his internal critics had a "duty to unite", regardless of the margin of victory.

After private talks this week with senior MPs on Labour's moderate wing, Mr Corbyn is expected to seek to rebuild his frontbench team in the wake of the expected confirmation of his position.

The resignation of more than 40 frontbenchers in June left him unable to fill all his shadow ministerial posts and reports have suggested that as many as 14 may be ready to return following the apparent failure of Mr Smith's bid to unseat him.

Labour's ruling National Executive Committee is due to meet after the result is announced, having put off a decision earlier this week on proposals to restore elections to the shadow cabinet, which might have given some centrist MPs a route back into Mr Corbyn's top team.

With an electorate of around 660,000 members, more than half a million people cast their vote.