Jeremy Corbyn: Labour won’t back EU exit

Corbyn was cheered by Labour MPs as he rose to his feet.

Left-winger Mr Corbyn, who was formally elected to succeed Ed Miliband as Labour Party leader on Saturday, reshuffled his team following an exodus of senior shadow ministers, including Yvette Cooper, Chuka Umunna, Liz Kendall and Tristram Hunt.

“People want their voices heard, so I thought that I will do PMQs a different way”.

In a conciliatory move, the new Labour leader pledged to remain in post if his party decided to back renewal of Trident despite his lifelong opposition.

But Mr Corbyn, 66, later said: “The heroism of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain is something to which we all owe an enormous debt of gratitude”.

New Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wanted Prime Minister’s Questions to have “less theatre and more facts” – but his debut performance was always going to be he biggest show in town today.

When asked whether he loved the UK, he said: “Of course I love this country”.

She said: “Jeremy has proven that he wants to do things differently and I agree with him that for a long time Prime Minister’s Questions has been about theatrics and I think we have to grow up a bit”.

Mr Lewis became Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary in October 2013 and has played a pivotal role in uniting communities throughout the country, scrutinising the work of Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers. Corbyn opened with questions about housing, of which he received 2,000, including on the housing shortage and rent prices.

The Bolton South East MP suggested that Mr Corbyn’s performance was an improvement on his predecessors.

“You have to look at the shadow cabinet and the people in it. It’s a mix and a very able group”.

“But we do recognise more has to be done”.

A series of tweets from Councillor David Baines, of Windle ward, who supported Liz Kendall, appeared to questioned Mr Corbyn’s credibility, but when contacted by the Star this week, he vowed to “respect the decision”.

His first outing at the traditional weekly session follows a rocky start to his party leadership.

Mr Corbyn said he had repeatedly been told in conversations with voters that they viewed PMQs and Parliament generally as “too theatrical” and “out of touch”.