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by Kevin Schofield
26 August 2016
Owen Smith accuses Jeremy Corbyn of voting to Leave the EU

Owen Smith accuses Jeremy Corbyn of voting to Leave the EU

Smith and Corbyn - PA

Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith has claimed Jeremy Corbyn was "quite content" about the UK voting to leave the EU, suggesting his leadership rival may have even voted to leave.

Corbyn and the audience reacted angrily to the claim at a bad tempered hustings in Glasgow last night.

The former Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary said: "I'm not even sure that Jeremy voted In. I'd like to hear you say it Jeremy because I'm not certain."


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Corbyn replied: "I thought we were grown up and we weren't any longer going to use those kinds of questions and those kinds of remarks.

"Owen, you know very well what we were doing in the European referendum. We were speaking together on the same platform in Cardiff asking people to vote Remain."

But Smith hit back: "I was at that meeting Jeremy and you made a very narrow speech, as you did in all of those rallies. You only spoke about protecting workers rights, you didn't make the big case we should have made. We're internationalists in Labour and we believe in cooperation and collaboration across Europe."

After repeatedly being asked if he had voted Remain, Corbyn said: "Owen, you know perfectly well what the answer is - I voted Remain and I'm very surprised and actually quite disappointed that you should raise that question."

Mr Smith also repeated his call for either a second referendum or a general election on the Brexit deal Theresa May returns from Brussels with - an approach rejected by Mr Corbyn."

Elsewhere in the debate, Corbyn once again refused to give his full backing to Britain's continued membership of Nato.

When asked if he supported it, he would only reply: "We are members of Nato and therefore we are part of it. Does that mean we have concerns about Nato? Yes I do."

Corbyn also said he would give MPs the final say on whether British troops should come to the aid of a Nato ally if it was attacked. He came under fire last week for refusing to say he would help a Nato ally if it was attacked by Russia."

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