18:17

Jeremy Corbyn made a brief stop at the victory party of Liverpool’s first metro mayor, Steve Rotheram, where he attacked the Tories for how they have run “food bank Britain”.

In an appearance lasting a few minutes, Corbyn congratulated Rotheram, his parliamentary private secretary, whom he said had often told him “what you need to be thinking, what you need to be doing, and which football team you should be supporting”.

Standing in front of a group of placard-carrying activists gathered on a hotel lawn, Corbyn acknowledged the party had had a difficult time in local elections elsewhere. The Labour leader pivoted to the general election, saying Labour would work to end zero-hour contracts and jobs paying less than minimum wage.

“We will not be a government that presides over food bank Britain or asks teachers to go on the school gates and collect funds to pay the teachers’ wages,” he said. He took no questions from reporters.

Rotheram told supporters voters have a “marmite reaction” to Corbyn, but said they were attracted to his policies. Speaking to the Guardian, Rotheram acknowledged the party faced an uphill struggle in a campaign the Tories are framing as a personality contest between party leaders. “I think you’ll see a narrowing of the polls as long as we’re able to argue on policy ... If the contest is about May vs Corbyn, that’s a lot more challenging,” he said.