Labour MPs blamed Mr Corbyn for what they said was a lack of leadership in the campaign. “We will once again have a shadow cabinet that is balanced and is extended to all wings of the party and we will get together to take on the Tories and what they are doing to health, to education”.
Advertisement
To laughter and boos, Smith claimed that he was incredibly confident of beating Corbyn when the result is announced on 24 September.
Elsewhere, Bookmaker William Hill has said Corbyn, who nearly secured 60% of the vote in 2015, is now a “virtually unbackable” favourite to win the contest, with odds of 1/25 (96% chance of victory).
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has unveiled his Party’s energy and environment manifesto that aims to accelerate renewables generation, ban fracking and end fossil fuel reliance.
The rivals clashed over the party’s record on tackling anti-Semitism and abuse within Labour. “We weren’t”, Smith said, arguing that the party needed to get people who voted Tory in the last election to switch to Labour.
In addition to plans for new energy providers Corbyn would also reinstate DECC within the first month of a Labour government, branding its closure “short-sighted and irresponsible”. Smith said it was understandable that the Jewish community did not feel represented by the party, as it had not done enough to root out antisemitism.
“I think some of the people around Jeremy are absolutely encouraging it, of that there is no doubt”, he said.
But while Corbyn has vowed to “protect the future of our planet, with social justice at the heart of our environment policies”, green groups and organisations have questioned the Labour leader’s ability to bring about dramatic and transformational change.
He claimed there was a “hard left infiltration” of Labour and that some were “bringing in to our party anti-Semitic attitudes”. “I have spent my life opposing racism in any form, as have you”, Corbyn said, making clear he had never supported Hamas.
But the Owen Smith campaign dismissed the numbers as a “blind assertion”.
The debate was held amid a row about Labour members being barred from voting in the leadership election.
The campaign say pollsters contacted 56% of Party members eligible to vote in Owen Smith’s Pontypridd constituency.
A Labour Party spokesperson told IBTimes UK they would not comment on Draper’s proposal.
The recent schisms in the Labour party meant it was a much-anticipated debate – and, as is the way with #bbcqt, the knives were out on Twitter.
More than 50 members of the shadow cabinet walked out on Mr Corbyn in the wake of the Brexit vote.
Advertisement
Last night, Labour lost a council by-election in the Sheffield ward of Mosborough, to the Liberal Democrats, dropping 9.2 per cent of their share of the vote.
