Northern Powerhouse Rail commitment from Jeremy Corbyn in Brighton conference speech

Mr Corbyn was forced to move his leadership speech to an earlier slot, after the Supreme Court ruled the prorogation of Parliament had been unlawful and politicians prepared to return to the House of Commons on Wednesday.

But Mr Corbyn dedicated only a short portion of his speech to admonishing the Government and instead focused on setting the scene for what he hopes will be a Labour Government before the end of the year.

Mr Corbyn said he would bring “economic transformation that will change your daily life”. He said: “Let me give you a concrete example of what it will mean. Labour will invest in Crossrail for the North to link our great Northern cities, from Liverpool to Hull and up to Newcastle in the North East. And we’ll restore the bus services that have been cut leaving people isolated from their communities.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already pledged to deliver the Manchester to Leeds stretch of Northern Powerhouse Rail - also known as Crossrail for the North - at a cost of £9bn.

In the hastily-rewritten keynote speech, Mr Corbyn condemned the “harsh and uncaring” Tories and accused Boris Johnson of being part of an “elite that disdains democracy”.

In his speech Mr Corbyn:

• Announced Labour would create a publicly-owned generic drugs manufacturer to supply cheaper medicines to the NHS.

• Accused Mr Johnson of playing on people’s fears by comparing veiled Muslim women to “letterboxes or bank robbers”.

• Promised a green industrial revolution with three new battery plants in South Wales, Stoke-on-Trent and Swindon.

• Insisted Labour’s Brexit policy, the subject of a major row at conference, was “not complicated”.

• Warned against sending troops to Saudi Arabia, claiming British actions in the Middle East had resulted in “spreading conflicts rather than settling them”.

Mr Corbyn’s speech came at a conference which has been overshadowed by rows over deputy leader Tom Watson’s role and a split over whether the party should back staying in the European Union.

Mr Watson did not join Shadow Cabinet colleagues on the stage after Mr Corbyn’s speech.

And the Deputy Leader cancelled his speech - which was supposed to be yesterday but was moved to today.

The Labour leader defended the Brexit policy, which will see the party go into a general election promising a referendum but not saying how it would campaign in that public vote. He said: “Labour will end the Brexit crisis by taking the decision back to the people with the choice of a credible leave deal alongside remain.

“That’s not complicated - Labour is a democratic party that trusts the people.”

Announcing his plan to create a state-owned pharmaceutical firm, Mr Corbyn said he had been inspired by a meeting with nine-year-old Luis Walker, who has cystic fibrosis.

“Luis’s life could be very different with the aid of a medicine called Orkambi,” Mr Corbyn said.” But Luis is denied the medicine he needs because its manufacturer refuses to sell the drug to the NHS for an affordable price.”

He hit out at a system “that puts profits for shareholders before people’s lives”.

Mr Corbyn said Labour would use compulsory licensing to secure generic versions of patented medicines and create a new publicly-owned generic drugs manufacturer “to supply cheaper medicines to our NHS saving our health service money and saving lives”.

Mr Corbyn was set to travel back to London last night, and to appear on the front bench today.