Labour donor John Mills said yesterday that such a divide would be “Armageddon” for the party’s Westminster hopes, and new YouGov research now shows exactly what that might mean.
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Last month, the local party had voted against sending a supportive motion to Mr Corbyn amid the chaotic string of resignations from his front bench – a result that was seen by his opponents as a sign that his appeal was thinning.
He made the comments as he set out his stall for the Labour leadership in the first head to head debate with Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Corbyn earlier announced his 10-point programme to rebuild Britain, including a £500bn (€590bn) investment scheme overseen by a national investment bank over the next decade.
A further 28 Labour MPs and one Conservative MP defected to the party.
Mr Smith rejected claims his resignation was part of a coup against Mr Corbyn, and called on Labour members not to brand opponents to the veteran’s leadership as “Blairites” or “red Tories”.
Under Jeremy’s leadership, we have put back on the political agenda that Britain needs a proper industrial strategy which invests in the industries and technologies of the future.
Mr Corbyn said: “The neglect of our country must end”.
He is expected to say: “T here is enormous potential in the skills and talents of our people and huge opportunities ahead of us in science, technology and culture”.
“We could all be living richer lives in a sustainable, more prosperous and more caring society”.
The audience erupted into loud cheers at the Labour leader’s remarks but were met with fury from Mr Smith.
He is a New Fathers for Justice campaigner, standing under the banner of “Give me back Elmo” a party name he says comes from a merger of his children’s names, who he has been banned from seeing.
Mr Corbyn said while he had opened his door to colleagues, Labour MPs must recognise the “structure of the party has changed” and the parliamentary Labour party is “not the entirety of it”.
Speaking at the Open University in Milton Keynes, he said: “I am deeply, deeply anxious that the Labour Party is going to split”. “If you are going to exclude over 100,000 voters, you are not going to get the full picture of what people actually want”.
Owen Smith has won the backing of a trade union for the first time since he challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the Labour Party.
“This leadership election is a fight for the soul of the Labour Party”.
Community has traditionally been one of the more right wing unions, whose leadership was close to the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. I don’t think we can win, Jeremy, at the moment.
Addressing Mr Corbyn, he added: “I know you’re radical, I’m radical, but I want us to be radical in government. I don’t recall that”. “There is no way I am ever going to allow this party to split and it won’t”.
The pair agreed on issues relating to boosting infrastructure investment and improving gender representation in parliament.
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“That in turn creates jobs which creates greater economic expansion and brings about a greater level of tax income for the Exchequer”.
