LABOUR leadership contender Andy Burnham said today (Friday, September 4) that only he could beat frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn and unite the party in the process.

Speaking to the party faithful at Durham County Hall, he said: “I can unite us and put us back in touch with the public on the issues that matter to them and put Labour on the path back to Government - and put pride back in the heart and soul of our party.”

Mr Burnham joked that the campaign had been so long he could “just about remember being the frontrunner”.

He added: “Only I can beat Jeremy Corbyn in this race.

“I agree with him on many things in term of the policies we need to have, but they have to be credible.

“You have to say how you are going to pay for them and you have be able to convince people you can do the things you want to do while running a strong economy.”

Mr Burnham outlined his manifesto called for the scrapping of tuition fees, the building of more affordable homes, setting a "proper living wage", the re-nationalisation of the railways and brining social care into the NHS.

He said: “I think it is a manifesto that can unite us as a party - that can bring our party back together coming out of this leadership election.

“That for me is absolutely crucial. If we make the mistake coming out of this where we turn on each other, where one side of the party seems to have won over the other - and there is all the bad blood that comes with that - we will repeat history.

“We will go back to the days of the early 80s when Labour was too busy fighting itself and left the pitch clear for Margaret Thatcher to bulldoze her way through the North-East.”

Addressing the pending Euro referendum he said: “From my point of view Labour are 100 per cent pro European .

“We need to make that case from day one, celebrating the fact that Nissan have just committed a major investment in Sunderland and the investment by Hitachi. Would this be coming if we were heading towards the exit door?”

Mr Burnham later visited Nissan in Sunderland, where he further warned against a British exit from the EU.