Robert Peston

on a single big issue, which is that we should rejoin the European Union.

But he seems to be a million miles from making what would be a very courageous leap.

Now, as I say, there are lots of people both within parliament, within the government, and indeed the wider

sort of group of Labour supporters who take the view that were he to do that, that would reunite the centre and the left of politics and it would give the Labour Party a fighting chance to beat reform.

And actually at the moment, there aren't many issues that the Labour Party can coalesce around that look as though

they would give Farage and Reform a bit of a run for their money at the next election.

But again, as I say, there's absolutely no sense that he's got the courage to move Labour in that direction.

And then when it comes to industrial economic policy, the one thing that he announced was taking British Steel into public ownership.

Now,

I'm not saying that taking British steel into public ownership is necessarily a bad thing in and of itself.

I mean, you know, I'm...

broadly take the view that this idea that he put forward, that it is incredibly important for an economy like ours to have a steel manufacturing capacity, that this is some issue of enormous economic security.

I personally think that's slightly overstated in the sense that, you know, there is definitely surplus steelmaking capacity in the world.

The idea that we're ever going to be in a position where we can't import steel, I personally think is mad, but okay, I'm not prepared to die in that particular ditch.

But what I do think is...

You know, nationalising steel sounds like the Labour Party of 1967 when they last nationalised it.

It doesn't sound like a very modern economic strategy or industrial strategy that is going to benefit the people that you're talking about, people on lower...

If you happen to work in steel or related industry, you probably think, thank goodness.

But we're talking those are thousands of people.

You know, it is not the millions and millions of people who want their living.