Labour leadership: Owen Smith pledges 50p top tax rate in bid to rival Jeremy Corbyn A commitment to tackling inequality should be inserted into Labour’s written constitution, the party’s leadership contender Owen Smith has said, […]

A commitment to tackling inequality should be inserted into Labour’s written constitution, the party’s leadership contender Owen Smith has said, as he launched his campaign to oust Jeremy Corbyn with a commitment to raising taxes on the rich.

Mr Smith, who is challenging for the Labour leadership alongside Angela Eagle, called for Clause IV of the party’s constitution to be rewritten so that reducing the gap between the richest and the poorest was put “at the heart of everything that we do”.

The MP for Pontypridd also pledged to “completely overhaul” the British tax system so it was more progressive, saying he would like to reintroduce the 50p top rate of tax and also raise capital gains tax from its current level of 20 per cent.

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‘Clause IV moment’

Evoking Tony Blair’s “Clause IV moment”, which saw the former Prime Minister controversially remove Labour’s historic commitment to mass nationalisation, Mr Smith said “every Labour policy” should work towards the same ultimate goal of reducing inequality.

“We have a wider gap between the haves and have nots in this country than any of us have known in our lifetimes and it is for the Labour Party, our party, to fight to reduce that gap,” he told an audience in his Welsh constituency.

“So I say it is time for us, in words, to commit ourselves by rewriting Clause IV of the Labour Party’s constitution, the beating heart of our party. I want to rewrite Clause IV to put tackling inequality right at the heart of everything that we do.”

During his speech, the former shadow Work and Pensions Secretary repeatedly praised Mr Corbyn’s influence on the party and backed his call in the wake of the Chilcot report for a War Powers Act – which would give MPs a legal veto over any decision to take the country into conflict.

Labour must be ‘radical but credible’

However, he said he was challenging Mr Corbyn so Labour could become a “radical but credible” movement. Describing the current state of the party, he said: “We are not on the pitch, we are on the sidelines.”

Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show earlier in the day whether he would raise taxes on the rich, Mr Smith replied: “I think we need to completely overhaul our tax system, so yes.” He said he would like to reintroduce the 50p top rate of tax “tomorrow” and said it was “completely anomalous” for capital gains tax to be 20 per cent when the higher rate of income tax was 45 per cent.

Mr Smith and Ms Eagle will take part in a Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) hustings on Monday, giving them the chance to make their case for leadership to fellow MPs.

Some of the party’s MPs have called for a single unity candidate, warning that a protracted leadership battle would distract Labour from challenging Theresa May. Mr Smith promised that he would withdraw from the race if she won the most support from the PLP.