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From the moment Owen Smith burst on to the Welsh political scene he stood out from the crowd with his willingness to take on rivals and debate both epic issues and niche topics.

The Pontypridd MP has tackled subjects ranging from the future of work to the challenges facing Valleys rugby as he climbed the ranks.

If his leadership bid is a success, we could soon see him engage Prime Minister Theresa May across the despatch box at a critical time in Labour’s history.

He first came to prominence in 2006 when he tried but failed to win Blaenau Gwent for Labour in that year’s by-election. Since then he has served as Shadow Welsh Secretary and Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.

As he takes the greatest gamble of his career so far, here are some of his memorable statements.

Owen on standing for the Labour leadership, July 2016

“I will stand in this election and I will do the decent thing and fight Jeremy Corbyn on the issues, just as he will do with me, and at the end of that I will stand behind whoever the leader is.

“But I hope and I expect it will be me.”

Owen challenges Sol Campbell over his objections to Labour’s planned mansion tax, November 2014

“We’re talking here about £3,000 a year extra that you would pay... I think people in this country who are frankly struggling under this Government will have zero sympathy with millionaires like you.”

Owen on giving the public “another chance” to vote on the Brexit deal, July 2016

“That does mean a second referendum or a general election when the terms are clear. The Labour Government should be committing to that.”

Owen on why he resigned from Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, June 2016

“The lack of confidence in the leadership goes beyond the small group of MPs who have consistently opposed Jeremy since his election. It has become clear that he is unable to form a broad, inclusive Shadow Cabinet that draws on the best of our movement’s left and right traditions.”

Owen on China’s “dumping” of cheap steel, February 2016

“What’s to stop the Chinese, whose rear end we seem to be kissing so assiduously in so many areas, what’s to stop them in three, five, 10 years’ time deciding they are going to ramp up the price of steel? [Chinese steel] may be cheap right now because they are choosing to dump it but what’s to stop them deciding in a few years’ time they want to exploit what is their then-monopoly of steel into the west and turn the screws on western economies?

“History tells us that’s precisely what they will be tempted to do when their own economy strengthens.”

Owen on reintroducing wage councils, July 2016

“I think there’s a real case for re-inventing modern wage councils, operating sector by sector, looking at the specific terms and conditions in individual sectors and arguing for better terms and wages for workers in those sectors.

“They were a brilliant way in which we gave working people a bulwark against employers eroding wages and it was a way in which people could bind together and argue for better terms and conditions.

“I would start with retail and hospitality where so many workers, in particular women, are often working in insecure circumstances on low wages and often on zero hours contracts.”

Owen on Jeremy Corbyn not singing the national anthem at a Battle of Britain commemoration, October 2015

“I’d have advised him to sing it. Yes, I would, absolutely, irrespective of his views.

“But I’m not sure that he didn’t sing it because he’s a republican. He may well have been thinking about something else.

“And he has said quite clearly that he was simply standing there in respectful silence. You quite often see English footballers before the match not singing...

“He was about to go and do his big speech at the TUC. Perhaps he was just thinking about that or, more likely, he was thinking about the people he was commemorating.”

(Image: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

Owen on why he didn’t resign from the shadow cabinet after Acting leader Harriet Harman decided MPs should abstain on a welfare vote, July 2015

“I believe that integrity is important in politics, as in all things. I was elected as a Labour representative, not as an independent delegate, and the leader of Labour sets our position.”

Owen on cooperation between the UK and Welsh Government, January 2013

“I’ve said previously, an area where there ought to be greater collaboration is higher education. Another is social care, where effectively we’ve got joint markets between England and Wales.

“But it’s not a question of rescinding or repatriating powers – that would be completely contrary to the spirit of the last generation of devolution, where I think it’s become very clear that it’s the settled will of the people of Wales.”

Owen on the need for reform of regional rugby in Wales, January 2012

“In short, we’ve got to organise to make our voice heard and to force the WRU and their colleagues in the regional super-clubs to concede that, whatever their protestations about finite resources or long-term contractual agreements, it is not acceptable for an elite of bureaucrats and bankrollers to declare, de facto, that top-flight rugby will only be played south of the M4. That is neither fair nor democratic and it must not continue to go unchallenged.”

Owen on the demonisation of trade unions, September 2014

“The way in which trade unions have been marginalised, demonised in this country over a 30-year period is scandalous. The result is, actually, antipathy to trade unions in workplaces, even amongst the very people who would most benefit [from] their engagement in trade unions.”

Owen on £9,000 tuition fees in England, December 2010

“In the longer run, I fear they will both curtail the cherished, progressive ambition of opening higher education to all and constrain the curriculums of universities that are still the envy of much of the world.”

Owen on David Cameron and Europe, May 2013

“The story, as far as I’m concerned, is Cameron’s weakness on Europe in the face of the Ukip threat and his backbenchers... I think the reality is, unfortunately, Cameron is being pressured to flirt with the prospect of exiting Europe and if we were to do so Wales would be a part of the UK that would probably suffer most because we have benefited perhaps to a greater extent than anywhere else in Britain from European structural funds.”

Owen on Margaret Thatcher and the miners’ strikes, April 2013

“Vengeance for the miners’ strikes of the early 1970s and their impact on the Tory Government was clearly her primary motive, rather than any high-minded attempt to reform the British economy or industrial relations, and many in Wales will never be able to forgive her.”

Owen on the so-called bedroom tax, February 2013

“Parents of soldiers s erving in our armed forces , divorced parents whose kids come to stay and disabled people who need extra space because of their condition will all pay more for their homes. Even if this policy were fair, it is economically incoherent as it will force local authorities to relocate families to smaller, more expensive properties in the private rented sector or face increased arrears…”

Owen on reality TV show The Valleys, September 2012

“It is without a single redeeming feature . It’s a patronising and untrue depiction of the Valleys and Wales.”

Owen opposing “Olympics hours” Sunday trading continuing, September 2012

“People in Wales value their Sundays , whether for spending time with the family, meeting up with friends or getting much-needed respite ahead of another busy week in work.

“Allowing 24-hour opening on a Sunday would mean many shop-workers in Wales don’t have a start and end to their working week and smaller shops – who’re already struggling from the double-dip recession – would find it even more difficult to stay afloat.”

Owen Smith on why Labour had lost Blaenau Gwent to Peter Law, May 2006

“I am not making any bones about it, we did not listen.

“We got what we deserved. It was a cock-up and we are sorry. Labour took Blaenau Gwent for granted, we have learnt a hard lesson.

“We will never do so here again.”

Owen Smith on losing Blaenau Gwent, June 2006

“We need to reach out to those people who left the party and try to heal some of the rifts.”

Owen on the cult of youth, December 2010

“Our society has become dangerously obsessed with the cult of youth, in politics as much as anywhere else in society.

“In France, you can’t become a senator until you’re 30 because they figure you’d have amassed some wisdom by then.

“In our country, we’re creating peers younger than I am. We need to get back to understanding the value that older people bring to our society and the wisdom that only comes with experience.”

On becoming Peter Hain’s deputy as Shadow Welsh Secretary, October 2010

“We aren’t being represented properly by the Government which appears to be anti-Welsh. Just look at the volume of cuts we are seeing in Wales and the attitude to reducing Welsh MPs and our representation in Parliament.”

On Ed Miliband’s selection as leader, September 2010

“All along, I have thought that Ed Miliband is the right man to do this having the values and principles to address the issues that voters raised with me during my own election campaign.

“I’m delighted that he’s been elected as we in Pontypridd have an even greater need than most for someone whose natural instinct is of fairness and social justice.”

Owen Smith on raising VAT, July 2010

“VAT is a deeply regressive tax whose impact on the most vulnerable in our society is painful and unfair. To raise the rate without holding urgent reviews of the impact of these increases is reckless and wholly unnecessary.

“Hitting disabled people with an unfair tax rise should never be a price worth paying. The vast majority of disabled people are amongst the poorest in the country: to burden them with increased costs for goods vital to their health and well-being is truly abhorrent.”

Owen encouraging the BBC to move its base from Cardiff to a poorer part of Wales, August 2013

“While I have no doubt that our capital city could continue to provide an excellent base for BBC Cymru, I would suggest that a headquarters in one of Wales’ more deprived communities might better enable you to maximise the economic, as well as the cultural, benefits of this move...

“There are many parts of Wales with a need for similar levels of investment and to which hosting BBC Cymru would provide a significant economic boost.”

Owen on a Severn barrage, May 2012

“We need to balance the environmental concerns that you hear from fishing groups and people who are interested in wading birds and the ecosystem of the Severn as it currently exists, but we also need to think long term, boldly and bravely as politicians about what we’re going to do to deal with the energy crisis, what we’re going to do in order to try to reduce our carbon emissions.

“Renewable energy clearly has to be one of the areas where we focus our attention.”

Owen on Conservative plans to reduce the number of Welsh constituencies, January 2012

“What is clear already is that communities like Pontypridd and the Rhondda and elsewhere will potentially have representation from further afield in the future than they have had in the past.

“That’s a reflection on the Tory party’s decision to try and rig the next election by cutting the number of Labour MPs.

“I hope people will see through this attempt to rig the election boundary in Pontypridd and the Valleys and refuse to accept a reduction.”

Owen on his Labour heritage, October 2012

“Only Labour can unite people ordinary working people in Wales, Scotland and England, too. We alone can do that because the Labour movement has always believed that we are stronger together.

“We believed it 100 years ago in the Rhondda Valley, when my great grandfather, Dafydd Humphrey Owen, fought for better prices and wages in the Cambrian Combine strike and the riots that followed it.”

Owen on Pontypridd’s Lido

“I remember mitching off school – not something I condone – and being chased out of this pool by a teacher from Mill Street who had come over and was rounding up all the people who had missed school and gone swimming instead.”

Owen on Asbos, June 2006

“Opposition politicians who say we are being too tough on crime are wrong. Asbos are an effective way of cracking down on yobs and thuggish behaviour, but they are just one tool we have and they can’t work on their own. This is why [Assembly candidate] John Hopkins and I are demanding a doubling of police community support officers in Blaenau Gwent. People need to be reassured about crime and that is why we need a greater uniformed presence on the street.”

Owen on recommendations for MPs’ pay to rise to £74,000, July 2013

“Ipsa has recommended an increase in MPs’ pay of nearly 10%, which is clearly out of step with the rest of the public sector and completely inappropriate when millions of families have seen their living standards fall due to rising prices and stagnant wages at best.”

Owen on wanting to stop Assembly candidates standing in a constituency and on the regional list, June 2013

“[Dual candidacy] brings into disrepute the notion of proportional representation. It confuses people. The people of Wales do not support it, and the Labour Party should not support it.

“That is why I commit here today to reversing it as soon as we possibly can in the event of the Labour Party winning in 2015.”

Owen on what the Lib Dems in the Assembly would need to do before a deal could be struck in the Assembly, May 2011

“They are now in cahoots with a right-wing Tory Government. If they want to disown Nick Clegg we can talk turkey with them. They need to effectively secede from the national Liberal party. They would need to significantly distance themselves in a real and meaningful way from Westminster.”

Owen on the NHS in England, July 2013

“I think what the Tories have done to the health service in England is disgraceful. They are not committed to retaining the NHS as a public service and are moving to a position where it will increasingly be run by commercial companies.”

Owen on changing the electoral system to the Alternative Vote, February 2011

“It does make coalitions more likely... I’m now one of the people who will be very, very wary of ever wanting to forge an alliance with the Lib Dems.”

Owen on income tax powers for the Welsh Government, March 2014

[We] recognise that if handled properly and seen as a tool to strengthen social justice and economic fairness, tax powers could bring real benefits to Wales.

“That’s why Labour will support, subject to our unchanged triple lock test of fair funding and the consent of the Welsh people at a referendum, the devolution to Wales of tax varying powers exactly as we are proposing for Scotland.”

Owen on the deficit, May 2015

“There is no doubt it was necessary after the crash to run a deficit to make sure the money kept coming out of the cash-points and the building societies didn’t fall over...

“However, I think there does need to be an acknowledgement that had we spent less in the last few years before the deficit and had we been more mindful of the fact that lax banking regulation meant there was less insight into what the banks were doing [and perhaps] more risk associated with our economy than we appreciated then we might have run smaller deficits or sought to pay down the deficit faster.

“And if we had done that, I think we’ve got to be honest and acknowledge we would have been in a better position to withstand the crash...”

(Image: Matthew Horwood)

Owen on UK Government plans to introduce new thresholds for strike action, July 2015

“This is not just an attack on peoples’ basic freedoms , it also reeks of hypocrisy from a government that came to power with 36% support of the 65% of people who voted in the election.”