Jeremy Corbyn has repeated calls for Boris Johnson to apologise for articles he published about Hillsborough and Liverpool when he was a journalist.

The Labour leader was in the city today with Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram to announce plans for a £3.5 billion investment in the Mersey Tidal Power Project should his party win the next election.

He repeated his call for a general election and said he was confident Labour would win if one was called.

In an interview with the ECHO Mr Corbyn addressed the Prime Minister's response to Liverpool MP Maria Eagle , who asked him to say sorry for editing and publishing a hugely offensive article in The Spectator 15 years ago.

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The infamous piece, written by Simon Heffer - but edited and approved by Mr Johnson - smeared Liverpool and its people following the brutal beheading of Scouse engineer Ken Bigley in Iraq.

Talking about the attitudes of Liverpudlians, the 2004 article said of Mr Bigley's death: “The extreme reaction to Mr Bigley's murder is fed by the fact that he was a Liverpudlian. Liverpool is a handsome city with a tribal sense of community.

"A combination of economic misfortune — its docks were, fundamentally, on the wrong side of England when Britain entered what is now the European Union — and an excessive predilection for welfarism have created a peculiar, and deeply unattractive, psyche among many Liverpudlians.

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"They see themselves whenever possible as victims, and resent their victim status; yet at the same time they wallow in it.”

It also made horrific and incorrect slurs against Liverpool fans over the Hillsborough disaster.

Mr Johnson dodged Ms Eagle's request that he apologise.

Asked what he thought about the exchange in the Commons, Mr Johnson's first as Tory leader, Mr Corbyn criticised the PM.

He said: "I think anyone that makes those kind of derogatory comments should at the very least apologise.

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"We should treat people with respect and we should recognise when they are in the middle of the grieving process.

"I pay tribute to the Hillsborough campaigners and all the work they have done to get justice."

Mr Corbyn visited Anfield last autumn and laid a wreath to the victims of Hillsborough.

The Labour leader also praised the work of Metro Mayor Rotheram on the Mersey Tidal Power Project, which could see the the Mersey Estuary used to power the region.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

He said he believed a £3.5bn investment in the project under Labour would help fight climate change and bring jobs to local people.

He said: "The first question I asked when this was brought to me was will there be apprenticeships, will people from this region be a part of the project?

"The answer to those questions was yes."