Ms Eagle and Mr Smith, who have both launched their bids to replace the Labour leader, will take part in a hustings later today in front of their MP colleagues.
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Mr Smith, who joins Angela Eagle in challenging Jeremy Corbyn, said an “overhaul” of the tax system was needed to make it more “progressive”.
Despite facing a revolt from his MPs, Mr Corbyn retains the strong support of many party members and has said he will fight the challenges in a contest which is expected to be decided in September.
It is understood that Smith would be willing to stand aside if Eagle – who was the first to declare her intention to challenge the Labour leader – could show that she had a greater number of nominations from MPs.
Ashfield Labour councillors have given their backing to embattled Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Amid fears that Labour could split if Mr Corbyn is re-elected, the campaign called for members to commit to remaining in the party and “campaign for a Labour victory” whatever the result.
The party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday (July 12) suspended all constituency meetings during the leadership contest. “The whole economic debate has moved very much towards the left because of the work of those that supported our leadership campaign previous year”. For me that means a Labour government doing traditional Labour things: investing in our communities, investing in public services, investing in the infrastructure we need – schools, hospitals, new roads.
Labour Party members Angela Eagle and Owen Smith are to lay out their visions on Monday, when they are due to appear before the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Ms Eagle refused to give the same assurance, insisting she was in the best position to win the leadership in a national ballot of members. “I think that is a benefit for any potential Labour leader”.
In the code of conduct, he went on: “As a candidate I will treat all with respect, behave with civility and expect all who support me to do the same”.
“Ideally, we would have one candidate, and the clarity of that one candidate versus Jeremy Corbyn”, he said.
More than 100,000 people have joined Labour since the European Union referendum result, with many hoping to cast votes in the upcoming leadership election.
“We need to make sure that people are satisfied now – we trusted people rightly to make a decision, we can trust them again in 18 months time to check whether it is absolutely what they wanted”.
Mr Corbyn was received in stony silence as he said he had tried to “reach out” to critics in Parliament.
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“But those MPs who vote against Trident should be in no doubt that they are voting to put tens of thousands of defence engineers out of work, many of them members of Unite and the GMB”.
