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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn continued his tour of Wales yesterday – addressing thousands of supporters at rallies in Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea.

Mr Corbyn, who is fighting a challenge by Pontypridd MP Owen Smith for the leadership of the Labour Party, called for public investment in the Port Talbot steelworks – and paid tribute to the work of the Labour-run Welsh Government.

His tour of Wales followed a fiery clash with Mr Smith in the first leadership debate of the contest, which was held in Cardiff on Thursday.

An estimated 1,600 people turned out at the LC2 leisure centre in Swansea last night to listen to Mr Corbyn, who earlier in the day addressed hundreds more people at a rally in the centre of Merthyr.

And he spoke of the need for the public to “have a stake” in the Port Talbot steelworks.

Gower loss a 'kick in the teeth'

“Steel is still fundamental to our national economy,” he said, before speaking at the Swansea event.

“I find it bizarre that two global corporations with offices in different places are deciding the future of Port Talbot.

“There needs to be strong public support in this. I’d be strongly in favour of a public stake being taken.”

Hundreds queued to see Mr Corbyn speak, with Swansea council’s deputy leader Christine Richards chairing th meeting – where she told the audience it had been a “kick in the teeth” when the Tories won Gower Constituency in the same hall on May 7 last year, but that Mr Corbyn and his followers were going to take back control.

In front of a banner carrying the adage “Wales supports Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader”, she said: “this feels like my Labour party again.”

Tyrone O’Sullivan, legendary miners’ leader and long-standing friend of Mr Corbyn, recounted his involvement in Tower Colliery, and said it was time for Labour supporters to “stop complaining and step forward”.

“I’ve known Jeremy for 31 years, he says its 32, but I don’t trust him,” he joked.

“Jeremy never wants power for himself, he wants people to empower themselves.”

Mutual admiration

Mr Corbyn paid tribute to Mr O’Sullivan saying he had “huge admiration” for a “lovely man”.

There was a standing ovation when Mr Corbyn took to the stage, who told the crowd Labour was seeing a renaissance.

“It’s because they want to see things done properly, it’s because they want to see their party doing things differently, and it’s because they don’t want the misery of the Tories,” he said.

He then took to task the failings of capitalism, including the Government decision to appoint former BHS boss Sir Philip Green as head of a 2010 Efficiency Review.

He said: “What is it about modern Britain that in the rush to the bargain basement we have allowed grotesque levels of exploitation, then blame the people in the factories, because they might have a different nationality.”

But, he added, Britain could have “strength in unity”.

He also paid tribute to the Welsh Government for their scrapping of prescription fees, and said it was because of their success booting capitalist markets out of the healthcare system that people were so keen to disparage it.

In Merthyr, he spoke at the site of the start of the 1831 Merthyr Rising in the town’s Penderyn Square – telling the crowd that he would reach out to communities across Wales.

He told the crowd: “We’re reaching out to every community in every part of this country.

“Yes, in order to take part in this election, yes, in order to strengthen out party, but also to reach out to those who have become disillusioned with politics because they don’t see a political solution to their problems.”