Jeremy Corbyn promises '21st century socialism' with taxes on super-rich and ambitious spending projects

He was giving his first major speech since his emphatic win in the Labour leadership contest

Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool (Reuters)

Jeremy Corbyn has promised to deliver “21st Century Socialism” to Britain, taxing firms and the super-rich to pay for education, borrowing to build council houses and blocking arms sales.

In a speech showing the leader using his new authority to pull his party to the left, he declared it was the only way Labour would win an election.

He called for all to stop fighting among themselves, but also snubbed former frontbenchers waiting to come back to top jobs.

Mr Corbyn also said his party would implement a new foreign policy with justice and human rights at its core - pledging to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia if he wins power.

He told delegates: “We know how great this country could be, for all its people, with a new political and economic settlement.

“With new forms of democratic public ownership, driven by investment in the technology and industries of the future, with decent jobs, education and housing for all with local services run by and for people not outsourced to faceless corporations.

“That’s not backward-looking, it’s the very opposite. It’s the socialism of the 21st century.”

He said it was now the job of Labour to “win over the unconvinced to our vision” adding, “only that way can we secure the Labour government we need.”

As part of his plan he said thousands of council homes could be built by allowing local authorities to borrow against their housing existing stock.

He pledged a Labour government would remove the "artificial" borrowing cap on investment, claiming this move alone would produce 60,000 properties over five years.

Mr Corbyn also said business will face higher taxes in a bid to pay for a "national education service" under a Labour government.

The Labour leader believes the NES can become "every bit as vital" as the NHS, with corporation tax increasing by less than 1.5% in a bid provide an allowance to college students and grants to those at universities.

He claimed there is "nothing more unpatriotic than not paying your taxes" as he also pledged a Labour government would clampdown on avoidance and evasion.

Labour would also suspend arms sales to countries accused of human rights abuses, starting with Saudi Arabia, to fulfil a "foreign policy based on peace".

The leader condemned the "repeated military interventions" by British governments, which he said had fuelled the migrant crisis and led to the "spread of terrorism, sectarianism and violence" across the Middle East.

Mr Corbyn praised those backbenchers who had stepped up when frontbench positions came free following the coup against him earlier this year, as some who had quit looked on in the wings.

He said: "And let’s be frank, no one will be convinced of a vision, promoted by a divided party. We all agree on that.

"So I ask each and every one of you, accept the decision of the members end the trench warfare and work together to take on the Tories."