OWEN Smith will seek to up the ante in the Labour leadership contest today by promising a “British New Deal,” that guarantees investment, more rights for workers and a dedicated shadow secretary of state for Labour.

The former shadow work and pensions secretary will make his pitch in a keynote speech at the highly-symbolic site of the former Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire, scene of a major confrontation between police and pickets during the 1984 miners' strike, which is now a modern business hub.

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"We need to rediscover a sense of national mission for Britain,” Mr Smith will declare.

"A faith in our country as having a future as bright as its past and one where the fruits of our collective success are shared more equally between us; where outcomes can be equal, not just the opportunities we create. That is why I am in politics.”

The MP for Pontypridd will say Labour has achieved much for social justice but that it needs to be more than just its past.

He will speak of a future of “fair taxes, fair employment and fair funding”.

Mr Smith will add: “That means investment, not cuts; with a British New Deal to defeat Tory austerity and re-balance the country.

“And under my leadership, it would mean a strengthening of employment rights, including creating a new shadow cabinet secretary of state for Labour, tasked with making Britain the envy of the world for the quality of our jobs and the protections they have, so workers have access to better terms and conditions."

Yesterday, the Welsh challenger to Jeremy Corbyn said it was time for the party to be "less timid" as he described himself as "massively to the left" of Tony Blair; he has been described by supporters of the party leader as “Blair-lite”.

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Mr Smith suggested Mr Corbyn and Mr Blair had something in common, saying: “Neither of them has been very forthright when it comes to really radical policies to change things."

Meantime, Mr Corbyn is fighting a legal battle over his place in the contest, after he was automatically named on the ballot paper without having to secure nominations from the party's MPs.

Labour donor Michael Foster has brought a claim at London's High Court against the party's general secretary Iain McNicol and Mr Corbyn. The ruling is due tomorrow.

If the Labour leader were to lose, it would throw the leadership contest into turmoil.

Already, supporters of Mr Corbyn have suggested the nominations procedure would have to be reopened to allow him to stand. However, given Westminster is in recess, it could se Corbynistas trying to postpone the race for the Labour crown until later in the year.

Elsewhere, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, called on his Labour colleague Seema Malhotra to apologise after John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, ruled that claims by her that the staff of Mr McDonnell and Mr Corbyn had gained unauthorised entry to her office did not amount to a breach of parliamentary rules.

Mr McDonnell said: "It's only right and fair Seema now apologises for the stress she has caused to my staff over the last few days.”

READ MORE: Calls to boost post-Brexit economy after fall in UK wages matched only by bankrupt Greece

Meantime, 500 Labour councillors from the across the UK have pledged their support for Mr Smith.

A letter signed by them and published on the LabourList.org, a centre-left blogsite independent of the party, said Mr Corbyn's opponent had made a convincing case that he "knows how to get things done".