Mr Corbyn said his pledges were created to ensure that “no-one – and no one part of the country – should be left behind”. The graphic below illustrates how a Labour split would slash the party’s already dwindling support with the electorate as a whole by a significant amount, which in a First Past The Post system, would translate into a total electoral disaster. “The party that has been here for 116 years as the greatest source of social and economic justice could be bust apart and disappear”.
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But in one of the most passionate moments of what was a heated debate, Mr Smith told his party leader: “We are 14 percentage points behind the Tories… that has got to be a wake up call. you can’t be satisfied with that”.
“But I think the principles I have set out here today are things that will actually appeal to a very wide range of people in our society”.
He said the next leader will have to heal the party as splits do not lead to victory at General Elections any sooner.
Mr Smith replied: “Because I don’t think you’re going to be able to deliver it. I don’t think we can win Jeremy at the moment”.
A 1,000 strong crowd of supporters left standing room only at the Hilton Brighton Metropole for Mr Corbyn’s re-election rally last night.
The pair clashed over Labour’s role in the European Union referendum campaign while they set out alternative views on Trident, Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
He said: “History tells us that when the Labour Party is divided, when the Labour Party is split, we lose elections, not once, twice, three times… but four times in a row”.
But he was booed by members of the audience as he defended his support for Trident by his hero, the Labour icon Nye Bevan.
Taking quickfire questions from the audience and wider party members on Thursday evening, Corbyn said: “MPs must realise that the structure of our party has changed”.
Mr Corbyn said he did not believe his re-election in next month’s leadership contest with Owen Smith would silence his critics from within the party which has included Hove MP Peter Kyle.
In January, the Labour leader floated the idea of banning companies from paying dividends until their staff are paid the living wage.
“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?'”
Smith described the plan as a “triple lock” to boost the living standards of low-paid workers, including a flat rate of pension tax relief, a full reversal of Tory cuts to in-work benefits, a rise in the minimum wage to the levels of the real living wage and extending it to all adults rather than just over-24s.
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Jonathan Bartley has responded to Jeremy Corbyn’s apparent rejection of an electoral pact between Labour and the Greens by saying that Corbyn’s words were “dissapointing” but that an electoral pact was still very much possible.
