Members of Labour’s shadow justice team are among the wave of shadow cabinet ministers who have resigned in protest against Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in the wake of the Brexit vote last week.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton (pictured) yesterday announced that he was resigning as shadow justice secretary.

Falconer, who joined Tony Blair’s Labour government in 1997, oversaw the creation of the Ministry of Justice and the UK Supreme Court as Blair’s lord chancellor. He has been the shadow justice secretary since May last year.

Meanwhile Karl Turner has resigned as the shadow attorney general. In a letter announcing his resignation, Turner said he has enjoyed being part of the shadow justice team, which has provided a ‘consistent and forthright opposition to the government’.

He said: ‘I was also honoured to have been asked to help Lord Willy Bach in his Legal Aid Commission bringing together experts and witnesses from across the legal profession to take a proper look at the needs of the legal aid system and how we can put it on a more stable footing.’

But he said it has become ‘increasingly clear that [Corbyn] does not hold the support of the shadow cabinet and the wider parliamentary Labour party’.

So far 12 members of the shadow cabinet and five shadow ministers have resigned. Corbyn has today announced a new shadow cabinet, but so far no one has been appointed to replace those who have left the shadow justice team.

Meanwhile justice secretary Michael Gove has said he will back Boris Johnson for the Tory leadership. There is uncertainty about the level of activity at the MoJ over the coming months, with a number of issues yet to be resolved.