Corbyn calls for fight against rise of populist and far right

Jeremy Corbyn has called on socialists to unite to fight the rise of populist and far-right politics.

Mr Corbyn said politics across the world had been shaken by the successes of UKIP, Donald Trump and France's Marine Le Pen.

He admitted that populists have been successfully identifying many of the problems faced by people across the country, but their solution - to attack minorities - was not the answer.

Instead, he said the only solution was to provide an alternative explanation for the problems they face and come up with solutions, like increasing "social justice and inclusion".

He was speaking at a European socialists' conference in Prague at which politicians were discussing reactions to globalisation.

Mr Corbyn said: "It's clear that there is a problem of the alarming rise and acceleration of the populist right all across this continent.

"Be it UKIP in my country, Donald Trump and the language he used in the presidential election in the United States, or what's happening in Hungary with Jobbik or Marine Le Pen in France, with her National Front.

"Politics has been shaken across the world.

"We know why the populist right is gaining ground and it's increasingly hard to get our message heard. It's up to us to give a real political alternative.

"The gap between rich and poor is widening. Living standards are stagnating or falling. People feel left behind by the forces unleashed by globalisation. They feel powerless in the face of deregulated corporate power.

"We have to deal with those issues and we have to deal with them quickly and seriously.

"The populist right do identify many of the problems but their toxic solution is actually a dead end. It's about attacking minorities rather than facing the real issues that many communities face.

"So, unless progressive parties across Europe are prepared to break from the political establishment of the past, which has sought to manage the change of globalisation, then we are going to have problems."

Mr Corbyn went on: "We have to offer a different economic message. It's about convincing the long-term unemployed that the reason there is no work for them is not because of migrants, it's because of an economic programme of deindustrialisation and insecurity.

"We have to make clear that our public services are being run down because of austerity and often very predatory privatisation.

"We cannot and must not abandon socialist principles, because many tell us that is the only way to achieve power.

"We have to put forward a very clear economic message - one of social justice and inclusion."

Mr Corbyn was speaking as far-right Austrian presidential candidate Norbert Hofer was said to be slightly in front in the polls ahead of Sunday's vote.

The Labour leader's European trip was expected to continue on Saturday afternoon with a visit to the site of the former Terezin Nazi concentration camp.