Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is returning to Bristol next week for a rally in the city centre. He offers Labour the best chance of forming a government at the next election, which really should be the only litmus test for potential party leaders.
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Smith also defended Labour MPs, the majority of which passed a vote of no confidence in Corbyn.
It comes after a YouGov survey for the Times found the Labour party 14-points behind the Tories – the Conservatives’ highest lead over their rivals since 2009.
Last night Tory MP Chris Philp said: “The hypocrisy of the Labour Party and its leader claiming it will tackle tax dodging whilst avoiding paying up themselves is extraordinary”. If Labour’s leader can not reflect the values and aspirations of voters across the United Kingdom, then they will never be Prime Minister.
Many saw the Brexit vote as a wake-up call, after millions of disenchanted voters in Labour’s traditional northern English heartlands defied their MPs to vote to leave the EU.
“I want us to be looked at by the country as a credible, respected opposition and a Labour government in waiting”, he said.
“I went to see you, Jeremy, and you know I came to see you not to say ‘can I resign?’ but to say ‘how can we get out of this problem?'”
“From his support for a publicly owned railway, his restoration of workers’ rights, removed by the Tories and not brought back under New Labour, and his commitment to running the economy in the interests of 99% of the people rather than the rich elite as favoured by the Tories, he is offering the country a genuinely radical alternative government”.
The veteran reiterated his view that Labour’s drop in recent polls was due to the move against his leadership.
He is the “anyone but Corbyn candidate”, she said, but added: “I think he’s probably a bit more in touch with the electorate”.
The result of the leadership contest will be announced at a Labour conference on September 24th. I don’t think we can win, Jeremy, at the moment.
Mr Corbyn said no community in Wales would be “left behind”.
The two men clashed most passionately over replacement of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system, which Corbyn opposes but Smith backs, in line with Labour party policy, decided at its annual conference.
“We’ve got food and water and everything like that”, Mr Smith said.
They stood behind podiums placed as far apart as their factions in the Labour party. It has been written so often recently that the Labour Party has no intrinsic right to exist; it seems we are now determined to test that theory to the limit.
He said: “We are fighting like ferrets in a sack”.
The pair agreed on issues relating to boosting infrastructure investment and improving gender representation in parliament.
Mr Smith, who said he has not seen his two daughters for five years, said he was angry with the politician for his stance on shared parenting. “Because I don’t think you will be able to deliver it”, Mr Smith replied.
“I have given my whole life to this party”, he added.
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Mr Smith pledged that, should he become leader, there would be a “zero tolerance” approach towards antisemitism.
