Labour leadership candidates are among MPs who have criticised the party for failing to hold leadership hustings in regions of the country it needs to win back.
The party plans to hold debates between the would-be leaders over the next month in Liverpool, Durham, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Glasgow and London.
Wigan MP Lisa Nandy, who is running to replace Jeremy Corbyn as party leader, hit out at the plan.
“The Labour leadership campaign can send a powerful message to the country about whether we are ready to listen. We can start by putting some of our hustings events in the places we need to win back,” she said.
“If we’re planning a hustings in Wales, why not north Wales where we lost seats? If we’re planning a hustings in Manchester, why not have them in Bury or Bolton?”
The MP for Wigan, who has made focusing on towns rather than cities a central part of her campaign, said on Twitter: “As I have repeatedly said, the Labour Party has lost seats for the first time in our history in areas like Bolsover, Wrexham and Stoke. The failure to debate the future of our party in communities like these shows that we are part of the problem.”
Jess Phillips, the Birmingham Yardley MP who is also standing for leader, said the party should add more hustings events to the list.
Angela Rayner, a candidate for deputy leader who is supporting Rebecca Long Bailey in the leadership race, said hustings should be “held in all regions”.
“It’s important members get the opportunity to listen and ask questions from all candidates,” she said on Twitter.
Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said Nandy was right to criticise the party.
“Lisa is right on this. I don’t know who was elected to sit on the NEC Procedures committee but I hope they arrange hustings urgently in the areas we need to gain at the next election,” he tweeted.
Candidates in the race have until 2.30pm on Monday to secure the 22 nominations from Labour MPs and MEPs they need to go forward to the next stage of the contest.
Four contenders – Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Nandy and Phillips – already have the numbers they require to go through.
But as of Sunday, Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, had only 10, while Clive Lewis had just four.
With a significant number of MPs yet to decide who to back, Thornberry said at the weekend that she was “fairly confident” of making it, but Lewis admitted getting the numbers was “hard”.
Lewis, who requires another 18 backers to progress, said he had “faith” in his colleagues to put him through to the next round of the contest, despite him touching on “difficult” topics during his leadership pitch.