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Jeremy Corbyn needs to “find his own John Prescott” who can speak to traditional voters, Labour’s Welsh leader has warned.

First Minister Carwyn Jones urged the UK boss to appoint an “authentic working class” voice to appeal to party heartlands.

The call came amid dire warnings about the potential collapse in support from Labour’s core voters.

Mr Jones told the Mirror: “Tony Blair’s great strength was not so much him as a person, but the fact he had John Prescott there.

(Image: Western Mail)

“John was an authentic working class voice and you need those voices, you need those outside London that are not see as metropolitan - people from the North of England, from the Midlands who sound like normal people, who don’t sound like politicians.

“You need people who speak in the accent of the area, so they’ve got that genuine sense about them.

“That’s what’s missing at the moment.”

Ex-seaman Mr Prescott, now a Labour peer, was Blair’s number two from 1994 to 2007.

The plain-speaking ex-Hull MP was a crucial link between the privately-educated party leader, trade unions and grassroots activists.

(Image: rossparry.co.uk)

He helped Blair win three successive elections which kept the party in power for 13 years.

Mr Corbyn’s top team includes four London MPs - but there were “dangers” with having a tight group drawn from one area of the country, Mr Jones said.

UKIP leader Paul Nuttall, a shaven-headed Liverpudlian, plans to target pro- Brexit voters in Labour strongholds.

He claims Mr Corbyn is as an out-of-touch, “unpatriotic” north Londoner.

Warning of the challenge posed by UKIP in the North and Midlands, Mr Jones urged Labour MPs to “take them on” and “show them up for what they are”.

“Nigel Farage talks about the ‘establishment’. He’s a boarding schoolboy who worked in the City – there’s no greater member of the establishment than him,” said the First Minister.

“It’s a sad sign of politics that someone like him can appear to be anti-establishment.”

But he added: “Nigel Farage has gone and UKIP, ultimately, is a personality cult based around Nigel Farage.

“There are challenges for them now about how they work in the future.

(Image: South Wales Echo)

“But the sentiment around what drove UKIP is still there. We have to make sure that working people who feel under pressure, who feel angry, come back to the Labour Party as their natural voice.

“Nigel Farage will sit like a parrot on Paul Nuttall’s shoulder.

“No matter what Nigel Farage says, he won’t be able to resist the temptation of being in the public limelight.”

Focusing on voters’ concerns would help drag up Labour’s dire poll ratings, Mr Jones, as demanded attractive policies to put to voters.

“What I have said to him is, move forward with developing what is an alternative programme for government,” revealed the Welsh leader.

“It’s hugely important that people understand what Labour stands for - in England in terms of health and education - but across the UK in terms of defence policy, foreign policy, taxation (and) the benefits system.

“That work isn’t ready yet.”

(Image: PA)

He called on Mr Corbyn to listen to concerns over migration.

“People are not happy with the current system of freedom of movement,” warned the Welshman.

“I think we need to look at other alternatives.”

Mr Corbyn and Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott are bitterly opposed to any curbs on immigration to cut numbers.