In a statement, Smith said: “Tens of thousands of Labour members and trade unionists will be anxious to hear that Jeremy Corbyn appears to agree with David Davis that our membership of the single market is not worth fighting for”. 29 per cent said they would vote for Owen Smith, with 5 per cent undecided.
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But there appeared to be much support for Corbyn in the fractious audience, complete with pantomime boos for those who spoke against him.
Cases of anti-Semitism in the party are expected to feature highly alongside other issues of communal interest, such as faith schools and the delegitimisation of Israel, and topics of general concern, including Brexit and the economy.
Smith accused Corbyn of failing to mention the European Union in the last two prime minister’s question times and said the United Kingdom was “clearly lied to” in the referendum.
“I have to say the first one was quite good – in fact you might want to make sure you stay sitting down for this”.
Corbyn hit back, criticising Smith’s attacks as unfair. He replied that he had campaigned hard but the Brexit decision should be accepted.
“I think Jeremy has not been strong enough in speaking out against antisemitism”, he said, arguing the report by civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti was not enough.
“We don’t comment on staffing matters”, a spokesman for the Labour leader told IBTimes UK. Published on Wednesday 7 September 2016Some people have accused Jeremy Corbyn of being stuck in the early 1980s and out of touch with what’s going on in Britain today.
But leadership rival and Pontypridd MP Mr Smith highlighted comments from August previous year in which Mr Corbyn said mines in South Wales could be reopened.
“As Labour leader I would heal the divides within Labour and take the fight back to the Tories”.
If passed by the party’s ruling body the reform would mean MPs, not Mr Corbyn, get to pick his frontbench team.
Near the conclusion of the debate, a questioner asked about whether the candidates support the monarchy.
But the Owen Smith campaign dismissed the numbers as a “blind assertion”. The party barred another 21,000 whose details didn’t match the electoral register, and 3,800 whose £25 supporter payment failed.
After the session, Lewis tweeted “looks like I’m famous” and added “I won PMQs”.
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‘This just shows us everything we need to know about modern Labour – the train’s left’s the station, the seats are all empty, the leader’s on the floor, even on rolling stock they’re a laughing stock, ‘ she joked. Assuming the SNP still rule the roost in Scotland, Corbyn would have to win all the seats he needs in England taking most of the votes from the Conservatives with a swing of around 12 per cent.
