Jeremy Corbyn debates Owen Smith on BBC Question Time’s Labour leadership hustings
9.42pm BST
Q: One of you wants to scrap Trident, the other says we should have talks with Isis, so why should we trust either of you on security?
Smith says he never said we should negotiate with Isis.
9.39pm BST
A young woman asks what they would say to young people who were not allowed to vote in the referendum.
Smith says he thinks 16 and 17-year-olds should have been allowed to vote.
9.34pm BST
Corbyn says EU nationals in the UK work hard and support public services.
He says he wanted free movement, but was concerned about the undercutting of wages.
9.30pm BST
A woman in the audience accuses Corbyn of not doing enough for the remain cause. Remain could have won if Corbyn had campaigned more effectively, she says.
Corbyn says he did campaign hard for remain.
9.28pm BST
Smith says we do not know what Brexit means.
Labour has to stand up to the Tories, he says.
9.24pm BST
Q: And what is your view on controlling immigration?
Corbyn says non-EU immigration is already controlled. He supported signing the posting of workers directive to stop workers having their wages undercut by migrants. And he backed the return of the migrant impact fund, abolished by the Tories.
9.22pm BST
Q: Should there be a second referendum on leaving the EU or the terms of Brexit?
Corbyn says we have to recognise the results, regrettable as it is. But Britain has to protect workers’ rights.
9.21pm BST
A member of the audience asks Smith to identify a Labour policy he supports that Corbyn doesn’t.
Smith says he supports remaining in the EU, and remaining in the single market.
9.20pm BST
Smith says he saw Corbyn asked five times if he wanted to be PM. He did not answer.
In the shadow cabinet Corbyn offered “scant leadership”, he says.
9.19pm BST
Q: Will there be a split if Corbyn wins?
Smith says he will not serve in the shadow cabinet under Corbyn. He could not do so with integrity. But he would not leave Labour, he says. He will vote Labour he says.
9.15pm BST
A man asks why Labour got annihilated in Scotland.
A young woman in the audience says she has been on her CLP committee. The discourse has been divisive. We have heard it tonight, with the booing. It is coming from both sides, but more from Corbyn’s. What is happening generally id disgraceful.
9.10pm BST
Q: Wasn’t Labour ahead in the polls before the leadership challenge?
No, says Smith. There were 89 polls under Corbyn’s leadership. Labour was behind in 85, and level pegging in the others.
9.09pm BST
The questioner says both men look unelectable. Someone else should take over – maybe Harriet Harman.
That prompts booing.
9.05pm BST
Smith says he is very pleased most MPs support him. And he won in the only ballot conducted so far – of GMB members, he says.
He wants to lead Labour back to power.
9.04pm BST
Q: Corbyn has no support from his MPs, and Smith has no support from his party. Shouldn’t they both stand aside to unite the party?
Corbyn says there is huge support in the party for opposing austerity. Some MPs support him. A large number don’t. He fully understands that, he says. But he hopes the party will come together afterwards to take on the Tories.
9.01pm BST
David Dimbleby, of course, is presenting.
He is introducing Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith now.
9.00pm BST
Jeremy Corbyn has been tweeting ahead of the programme.
Getting ready for @bbcquestiontime‘s #LabourLeadership hustings with David Dimbleby #bbcqt http://pic.twitter.com/iJiSqsFSnS
8.58pm BST
According to the BBC there will be around 150 people in the audience tonight and around half of them are Labour supporters, split equally between Corbyn backers and Smith backers. The rest of the people in the audience support a mixture of other parties.
8.57pm BST
Huffington Post is running a clickbaity story ahead of the hustings, based on a handful of tweets, about Corbyn supporters thinking tonight’s programme will be rigged against Corbyn.
The story does not mention the fact that the YouGov poll of people voting in the Labour leadership contest showed that Corbyn’s supporters (97%) really are much more likely than Smith’s supporters (44%) to think the media is biased against Corbyn. But the Smith supporters are less likely than the public at large (51%) to think the media is biased against Corbyn.
The overwhelming majority of Corbyn supporters believe that the mainstream media is biased against Corbyn (97%) and that PR agencies helped orchestrate the ‘chicken coup’ (90%), and more than half believe that the intelligence services are working to undermine Corbyn (55%).
Smith supporters are far more sceptical of such claims, with 44%, 24% and 11% believing them respectively. Belief in these theories is more prevalent among Labour voters in general, however, as well as among the general public at large.
8.47pm BST
Sources in Jeremy Corbyn camp have today released some figures from their own canvassing showing that Corbyn is well ahead of Owen Smith – in Smith’s own constituency. According to their figures, based on 56% of Labour members contacted in Pontypridd in south Wales, 64% are backing Corbyn and just 29% are backing Smith.
8.35pm BST
Comradely is not the word that springs to mind. Whereas last year’s Labour leadership contest was relatively good-natured, this year’s has been much spikier. The contest was triggered because 75% of Labour MPs voted for a motion saying they had no confidence in Corbyn but Corbyn refused to resign. Corbyn’s allies saw this as a coup mounted by 172 MPs prepared to defy the will of more than 400,000 members and supporters who voted in the leadership contest last year. The first hustings between Jeremy Corbyn and the challenger, Owen Smith, in Cardiff at the start of August, was frosty. Since then it’s got worse.
Tonight’s hustings may be the most high-profile yet, although its impact on the result could be limited because many members will have already cast their vote. Corbyn and Smith are on a Question Time special. According to Wikipedia (I did try the BBC press office, but they would not say) a normal Question Time gets seen by almost 3m people. But this one is going out at 9pm, an hour and a half earlier than when the programme usually airs.
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Sig Nordal 