Suffolk and Essex Labour candidates have said they will not be distracted by those voicing discontent at their leader in a letter throwing their full support behind leader Ed Miliband.

More than 100 parliamentary candidates across the country, including Jack Abbott in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Malcolm Fincken in Braintree, Jane Basham in South Suffolk, Edward Carlsson Browne in Harwich and North Essex, Chris Vince in Chelmsford, David Ellesmere in Ipswich and Tim Young in Clacton, have put their name to a letter calling for an “anonymous few” to stop orchestrating a “campaign of briefing to de-stabilise Ed and his leadership”.

In includes many candidates in Labour’s target seats. It says: “We have watched in disappointment over recent days as an anonymous few have attempted to orchestrate a campaign of briefing to destabilise Ed and his leadership. It is a distraction from the real issues, damaging for our party and it has to stop. Now is the time to stand our ground and to work even harder for the Labour victory that our communities so desperately need. As candidates we will not be distracted from getting out there and doing all we can to work for a Labour government.”

In the open correspondence they tell Ed Miliband’s opponents that they have been out on the doorstep “week in, week out in the towns, cities and countryside that we seek to represent”.

“We always knew this election would be difficult, but we also know that just four years after suffering our worst defeat since 1918, Ed Miliband has led our party to within striking distance of government,” the letter added.

They said they were “proud to be led by a man that we know to be honest, sincere and decent”.

“Ed is the only leader who understands the scale of the challenge that our deeply anxious and unequal country faces, and the only leader who has developed a radical yet credible agenda to meet it.”