Owen Smith has sparked anger after saying that he was upset Labour did not have the power to "smash" Theresa May "back on her heels".

The Labour leadership contender's remarks - delivered during a speech about equality - immediately prompted accusations of sexism.

When questioned, he defended his choice of words and said "it was a piece of rhetoric from me and we should be smashing the Tories back on their heels".

He added he "didn't literally want to smash Theresa May back, I'm not advocating violence in any way" and he denied that it was a sexist comment.

He said Mrs May should reflect on the way austerity policies have "smashed" the people - and those worst affected have been women.


Later, the Labour leadership hopeful told Sky's Sophy Ridge: "I am a robust politician and I use robust language".

But he then issued an apology through a spokesman, saying: "It was off script and on reflection it was an inappropriate choice of phrase and he apologises for using it."

Mr Smith came under fire for using a domestic violence analogy in 2010 in an online article he wrote, in which he said: "Surely, the Liberals will file for divorce as soon as the bruises start to show through the make-up?"

Plaid Cymru AM Simon Thomas described the Pontypridd MP's words as "aggressive, macho, 1970s Valleys Labour - pleasing the core Corbynista vote".

Mr Smith also addressed misogyny in the party, saying: "I think we've seen a growth of misogyny in the party, that's definitely true.

"We've seen rape threats against women, all of these things should be deeply concerning to us.

"And I think we've seen more intolerance and greater racism in the country at large.

"Now, that's something we've got to try and change - we can change it through legislation, we can change it through change in culture."

Owen Smith On Labour's Problems

Speaking on the highly symbolic site of the former Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire, Mr Smith set out 20 policy pledges as part of a wide-ranging vision of the UK with him as the next Labour prime minister.

Among them he offered a £3bn wealth tax, a 4% a year increase in spending on the NHS and the return of the 50p tax rate to pay for it.

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He promised to restore public services, which he said had been "smashed" by Tories austerity policies, re-opening libraries and reducing school class sizes.

If a Plaid politician had used Smith's aggressive language my timeline would be full of angry denounciations/calls for apologies #tumbleweed — Simon Thomas (@SimonThomasAC) July 27, 2016

He said his government would scrap the Department for Work and Pensions, which had become a "byword for cruelty and insecurity", and replace it with the Ministry for Labour to ensure protection for workers.

In an attempt to appeal to voters in the traditional Labour heartlands of the North, where voters have been leaking to UKIP, he vowed to end inequality and bring "fair employment, fair taxes and fair funding".

He also pledged to:

:: Introduce modern wage councils to agree pay and conditions

:: Set up a wage council to deal with under pay in the care sector

:: Ban zero-hours contracts

:: Reverse cuts to Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax

:: Bring forward High Speed 3 and invest billions in the North

:: Build 300,000 homes a year under his £200bn infrastructure fund

:: Repeal the Trade Union Act

:: Introduce a modern equal pay act.

The former shadow work and pensions secretary said the UK had become "angry and intolerant" because people feel the "system is rigged against them".

And he said: "They are right to be angry. Right to be angry that eight years after the financial crisis we're still being asked to pay the price."

Owen's made twenty policy pledges today. Read them in full here: pic.twitter.com/Oyv4piJdld — Owen Smith 2016 (@owensmith2016) July 27, 2016

He said there was anger because not a single banker was jailed after the economic crisis, and because the billionaire Sir Philip Green, criticised for his role in the fall of the high street giant BHS, had bought a second yacht.

Mr Smith said the UK had become the "sick man of Europe" for workers' rights.

Mr Corbyn's team have pointed out that the Labour leader announced he would introduce a Ministry for Labour last August.

Mr Smith has never denied that many of his policies are the same as Mr Corbyn's. However, his argument is that the Labour leader has failed to make his case to the public.

Mr Smith said a YouGov poll in The Times on Wednesday suggesting 2.7 million Labour voters would rather vote for Mrs May than Labour should act as a "wake-up call".