Labour challenger Owen Smith promises to 'give London hope' on homes and pay

Pledge: Labour hopeful Owen Smith
AFP
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith today pledged to “give hope” to Londoners struggling to buy or rent a home.

He stressed that while the capital is a “fantastic” city, too many people felt it “just doesn’t work” for them, with huge wealth divides and many people facing financial difficulties.

“House prices making getting hold of a secure home seem like a distant dream, wages not keeping up with prices and parents worried about the future for their children... this can’t go on and I pledge to do something about it,” he said on a visit to Croydon, south London.

He promised that Labour under his leadership if he wins would demand “concrete answers” to London’s challenges, including through a £200 billion British New Deal to build homes that people can afford, improving the transport network, and new workers’ rights to drive up pay.

With London having voted to Remain in the EU, Pontypridd MP Mr Smith - who will speak at a rally in Pimlico, central London, this evening - is also calling for a second referendum or a General Election to “sign off” the final Brexit deal.

Polls suggest that Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn is favourite to win the Labour leadership contest, despite a vote of no confidence in him by MPs by 172-40.

But Mr Smith has gone on the offensive and last night questioned Mr Corbyn’s patriotism, suggesting it is not “part of his make-up”.

The former shadow work and pensions secretary also claimed that Mr Corbyn’s “metropolitan” politics were at odds with Labour traditions about national identity in England, Scotland and Wales.

Mr Corbyn’s patriotism has been questioned before, including after he refused to sing the national anthem at a Battle of Britain memorial service in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Mr Smith, who said he would meet the Nato target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence, renew Trident and be prepared to push the button to launch a nuclear strike if he was in No10, said: “One of the weaknesses we have had recently is that people worry that Labour isn’t serious about security, that it is a lesser issue for Jeremy.

“I’m not sure that’s right, but he has certainly got a different perspective on some of those things - on patriotism if you like; and on security, on defence I think I have got a more traditional Labour perspective on that.”

But Mr Smith has himself come under fire from Mr Corbyn’s allies over his previous work as a lobbyist for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. He has stressed he is committed to a “100 per cent publicly owned” NHS.

Mr Corbyn’s campaign received a boost as Sarah Champion, one of the MPs who quit their front-bench roles as confidence in his leadership disappeared at Westminster, returned to her shadow home affairs role.

But he also faced a legal battle over his place in the contest, after he was automatically named on the ballot paper without having to secure nominations from the party’s MPs.

Labour donor Michael Foster, a former parliamentary candidate, was today bringing a claim at London’s High Court against the party’s general secretary Iain McNicol, who is being sued in a representative capacity, and Mr Corbyn, for the decision by the party’s National Executive Committee.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in