'A lot to be very proud of' - Corbyn on Labour in Wales

Jeremy Corbyn: 'Allowing Wales to set its own immigration rules would be "fraught with difficulties'

For a man who's had better New Years, Jeremy Corbyn seemed chipper enough.

He may be under fire from his own MPs on Brexit and immigration, and his shadow defence secretary may be "absolutely furious" about his views on Nato, but the Labour leader was relaxed when we met in his Commons office on Thursday morning.

Our conversation took in Brexit, immigration, Welsh council elections and the Welsh Government's record on public services.

Is Carwyn Jones right to suggest that the Corbyn approach to immigration policy is "very London-centric"?

Corbyn: "It's not about being London centric. It's about the economic relationship we have to have in the future. If we want access to the European market, there's going to be negotiations around that. There may well be conditions placed around that - we don't know exactly what those are going to be at this stage.

"That's why I say that the priority has to be making sure that those excellent manufacturing industries and jobs that are going on in Britain do have somewhere to export and sell their goods to - if we cut ourselves off from Europe then we're going to have a real problem with maintaining those industries."

'Fraught'

What does he think of Chukka Ummuna's idea of devolving some immigration policy to Wales?

"I think it'd be very difficult to implement it because if you set up a Welsh limit on immigration, or started the same thing for English regions would you then restrict the movement of those people within the UK, what would you do if it was a contracting industry - say building industry that had a contract to do work in other parts of the UK. Would you say that the European workers couldn't go and work on it. I think it's fraught with difficulties."

Stephen Kinnock's idea of a two-tier immigration policy? "It needs to be thought through a lot more than that."

This May marks the 20th anniversary of Tony Blair's election victory. Labour has been running public services in Wales ever since. Its record since then on the NHS, the economy and education, has not been without criticism.

The Corbyn defence? "Children in Wales get breakfasts. People using the NHS in Wales don't have to pay prescription charges. There isn't an internal market in the NHS in Wales.

"The Welsh Government is absolutely dedicated to expanding, developing and improving the education service in Wales, as it is the health service, and because we've got a Welsh Government there's been a great deal of investment gone in, and will continue to go in, in transport infrastructure in Wales, and the joint working between the Welsh Government and lots of businesses and industries has meant an awful lot of development of apprenticeships and good quality jobs in Wales.

"I think there's a lot to be very proud of about what Labour in Wales has achieved."

'Improving'

Football managers say the league table never lies - and some league tables make uncomfortable reading for Labour.

"It's improving. It's developing and the UK Government needs to recognise the needs of Wales and the needs of communities living in a post industrial society - of the levels of poverty that exist in those communities. A Welsh Government is on to this and a Welsh government working hard for the people of Wales is what we've got and and what we'll continue to have."

Despite bleak opinion polls for Labour in Wales, Mr Corbyn said its large membership was "in good heart and good fettle and we're raring to go".

I asked if we'd see him on the campaign trail in Wales.

"You certainly will."

There's more on the interview here.