Corbyn ‘happy about Brexit’
Smith slur over Europe sparks fury
LABOUR’S leadership rivals have clashed bitterly over Europe with Owen Smith all but accusing Jeremy Corbyn of voting Leave.
In the last hustings of the campaign Mr Smith told an audience Mr Corbyn “never supported staying in the EU” and was “happy” with the Brexit vote.
And he accused the leader of failing to fight to keep Britain in and effectively lying over his backing for Remain.
Speaking in Glasgow he said: “The reason Jeremy is so complacent and passive about this is that he’s happy with the result. His record is clear – he’s never supported being a member. I’m not even sure he did vote In.”
The accusation drew a furious response Mr Corbyn, who accused him of lowering the tone.
He snapped: “I thought we’d grown up and we weren’t any longer going to use those kind of questions. Owen, you know perfectly well I voted Remain.”
Europe remains the biggest dividing line between the two candidates with Mr Smith vowing to fight “tooth and nail” to block Brexit if he wins. The former Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary even announced last night that under his leadership Labour would put staying in Europe in its next election manifesto.
He said: “Jeremy is quite content to sit back and let that ‘hard Brexit’ take place. We’ve got to fight a lot harder.”
Supporters cheered but other audience members heckled and shouted: ‘What about democracy?”
The rivals also clashed again over NATO following Mr Corbyn’s refusal at last week’s hustings to say he would always come to the aid of an ally if invaded by Russia.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell claims some Corbyn supporters have been suspended – and so banned from voting – following assessments of their activity on social media. Among them is Ronnie Draper, head of the baker’s union.