Mr Corbyn said a future Labour government under his leadership would introduce a cross-departmental cabinet committee to increase participation in the arts and culture.
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The Welsh MP, who is challenging Jeremy Corbyn for leadership of the party, pledged that as Labour leader the party would block any attempt to invoke Article 50 until the public were promised a say on any final Brexit deal.
And Smith told Corbyn: “You can’t argue with the fact that we’ve gone backwards on your watch in Scotland”.
Tensions between the Labour leadership and party officials appeared to deepen tonight when John McDonnell claimed there had been a “rigged purge” of Corbynistas.
“While Ronnie, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, has been denied his say in Labour’s election, no action is being taken over the Labour peer, Lord Sainsbury”.
He said he reserved the right to disagree with the SNP, adding that the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures released this week showed how fragile the SNP’s vision of independence is.
Mr Corbyn will this evening attend a campaign rally in Dundee to boost support for his leadership campaign among Scottish Labour Party members, after admitting he was “disappointed” not to have the support of leader Kezia Dugdale, who is backing challenger Owen Smith.
It transpires that Traingate got out of hand because Jeremy Corbyn was too busy making jam to speak to his campaign team.
THE LABOUR leadership race got personal last night after Owen Smith claimed Jeremy Corbyn was “happy” about the United Kingdom voting to leave the EU. “I’m not even sure that Jeremy did vote “in” in the referendum”.
Meanwhile, Smith revealed that staying inside the European Union would be added to the Labour manifesto for the next general election should he become leader, and caused uproarious laughter in the crowd when he said Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale was doing a good job. He’s not bothered about the result. “A year ago the Labour Party was not committed to an anti-austerity programme”. “I want the people who are jeering Jeremy to keep quiet”, he told the crowd. The problem with this line of attack is that even if Smith does have a point (others have certainly asked the question of how Corbyn voted), he has failed to think through what the best possible outcome of going after Corbyn in this way will be.
After a week in which the Labour leader had argued with Virgin Trains about whether or not he had a seat on a trip to Newcastle, it was near-unavoidable.
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Corbyn also said he would legalise cannabis for medicinal use if he becomes prime minister but would change the status of harder drugs.
