Corbyn and Smith row over economy and jobs

In the final week of the bitter contest for control of the Labour Party, Mr Corbyn will say Brexit negotiations with the European Union must be “positive” and insist the country must remain open to migrants.

Mr Smith, who is embarking on a whistle-stop tour across England, Scotland and Wales, will warn that his opponent’s policies will jeopardise jobs in energy, defence and manufacturing through opposition to Trident renewal, nuclear power, the pharmaceutical sector and the oil and gas industry.

Mr Smith said: “During the course of this campaign I have set out my vision for an industrial strategy that creates jobs, growth and skills.

“This includes a £200 billion British new deal to invest in our country’s infrastructure, create new jobs and safeguard industries for generations to come.

“For all of Jeremy Corbyn’s claims, his policies would put hundreds of thousands of union members’ jobs at risk and lead to a devastating decline in the UK’s industrial base.

“The Labour Party I lead will champion British industry and defend the jobs that are under threat from Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn’s misguided policies.”

Mr Corbyn will give a speech on the economy in central London where he will set out economic plans that he insists will ensure no-one is left behind.

He will say the EU referendum result must be respected and call for the Government to press for full access to the single market.

Mr Corbyn will say: “In the wake of the referendum vote to leave the European Union and a summer of political turmoil, our economy stands poised between two alternative futures.

“There is huge potential in our society, there are talented people across the whole country, the millions who want a decent job, or to set up in business, or use their skills for the wider social good.

“But we have an economy and a set of institutions that let them down badly. The Leave vote, for all those in left-behind Britain, was a decisive rejection of all of this failed economic model.

“There is an alternative to the drift and decay of the Tories. An economy that works for all, across every part of our country.”