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Labour remains deadlocked over shadow cabinet issue

Mr Miliband also criticised Mr Corbyn’s domestic policies, warning that nationalisation “cannot be the answer to everything”.

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Decrying his leadership skills the professor said: “I think he could develop it but it’s been a bit slow and it’s been a bit chaotic”.

Their decisions included agreeing to a cap on what benefits a family could receive regardless of its size or personal circumstance – something that Corbyn actively spoke out against, while Smith tacitly supported it.

But in a further sign of the tensions at the top of the Labour party, Mr Corbyn rejected deputy leader Tom Watson’s calls for the return of the electoral college system for electing Labour leaders.

Under the current rules, the party leader has the responsibility for appointing shadow cabinet members.

Mr Corbyn won last year’s leadership race with 59.5% of the vote – and is widely tipped to win again.

Writing in i, the former shadow minister Chuka Umunna said that levels of “abuse, intimidation and vitriol” within Labour ranks were the worse he had known in almost 20 years of involvement with the party.

As apparent evidence he was able to win the support of voters, the former eurosceptic has pointed to Lord Ashcroft’s calculation 63 per cent of those who backed Labour at the last general election voted Remain.

But, whether he can hold the party together; when his parliamentary group challenged his leadership after the referendum on European Union membership, Mr Corbyn could not master the support of 51 MPs required for his nomination.

At the weekend the boss of the Unite union, and a key Corbyn ally, Len McCluskey, hinted that the party could try to replace Labour MPs disloyal to the leadership.

“What we have seen in Scotland is when people see there’s an alternative they go there”, he said, referring to the SNP.

A spokesperson for the Jeremy for Labour campaign said: “Those taking part in the video were expressing their views on the allegations made that as supporters of Jeremy Corbyn they are somehow soft on antisemitism, something which Jeremy Corbyn has a record of campaigning and acting against, and has repeatedly and consistently said he takes extremely seriously and will not tolerate”.

In remarks which emerged in a documentary about his campaign yesterday, Mr Corbyn said: ‘I have spent my life opposing these things and want to see a foreign policy based on peace, based on democracy, based on human rights, based on justice.

In an open letter, the MP for Pontypridd wrote: “Our party is at a crossroads, and the choice we face is between renewing our party to pursue unity and power, or satisfying ourselves with ongoing division and opposition”. The real work to transform the Labour Party into a party that truly represents the interest and needs of working class people starts now.

Speaking as the polls closed, Smith said his campaign had 5,000 volunteers and had spoken to 300,000 Labour supporters.

An estimated 640,000 party members have been eligible to cast a ballot, and the result will be announced at the Labour conference in Liverpool on Saturday.

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He said the party should be focusing on new ideas for the future, not debating how to “bring back various lost icons”, such as nationalised railways.

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