WATCH: Jeremy Corbyn urges unity as he is re-elected Labour Party leader

Mr Corbyn, who had been the overwhelming hot favourite, won 61.8 per cent of the vote, getting 313,209 votes to Mr Smith's 193,229.

He said the both he and Mr Smith were part of the "same Labour family" in an appeal for unity after increasing his majority on last year.

After private talks this week with senior MPs on Labour's moderate wing, Mr Corbyn is expected to seek to rebuild his frontbench team - although questions will remain over his working relationship with deputy party leader Tom Watson, the MP for West Bromwich East, who this afternoon announced he would continue in his role.

Mr Watson is the one member of the Shadow Cabinet whom Mr Corbyn cannot replace, as he is elected with his own mandate.

However, Mr Corbyn this afternoon declined to confirm that his campaign to "wipe the slate clean" after his re-election would extend to the fractured relationship with Mr Watson.

He told ITV News that the pair had "a very convivial chat this morning over breakfast" but refused to say that he personally wanted Mr Watson to stay in his post.

"He's the elected deputy he has a separate mandate from me," he said.

For his part, Mr Watson confirmed he would stay in his role as deputy, adding that everyone in the party must 'unify and work together' for what he believes will be an early General Election.

He said: "My overwhelming reaction is that I am glad the election is over. It has been a very bruising summer for the Labour Party.

"I congratulate Jeremy and his team and commiserate with Owen and his team.

"Our priority is now to focus on what I think will be an early General Election which requires everyone to unify and work together."

Asked if the party can come together, he said: "It takes patience and trust and confidence building but a desire to build a more socially just and equal society is still there and should be the glue that holds the Labour Party together."

This afternoon Adrian Bailey, the Labour MP for West Bromwich West said the party must accept the result and get behind Mr Corbyn.

He said he was confident MPs would work with Mr Corbyn if he embraced the views of the Parliamentary Labour Party as well as members.

Walsall North Labour MP David Winnick says Mr Corbyn had 'won the battle' but said he was 'not optimistic' about the party's election chances

Speaking immediately after the result was announced and referring to the "passionate and often partisan" contest, Mr Corbyn acknowledged "things are sometimes said in the heat of the debate on all sides which we sometimes later come to regret".

But he added: "I will do everything I can to repay the trust and support, to bring our party together, to make it an engine of progress for our country and the people that depend on the Labour Party to protect their interests, and win power to deliver real change in this country."

Mr Corbyn continued: "We have much more in common than that which divides us.

"As far as I'm concerned, let's wipe that slate clean from today and get on with the work we have got to do as a party together."

Mr Corbyn called on Labour MPs to unite behind his leadership and help build support for "a genuine alternative" to the Conservative Government.

"I have no doubt this party can win the next general election whenever the Prime Minister calls it, and form that next government," he said.

"To do that, we have all got to work together."

Mr Corbyn said he had a responsibility as leader to unite the party at conference, in Parliament and across the country.

But he added: "It is also the responsibility of the whole party - Members of Parliament, councillors, party members and our wonderful supporters across the country - to work together and respect the democratic choice that's been made."

He urged all Labour supporters to join him in taking part in a national day of action next Saturday against Mrs May's plans to expand selection in education and open new grammar schools.

Following a summer-long campaign dogged by allegations of abuse between supporters on opposing sides of the party, Mr Corbyn delivered a promise to tackle intimidation.

"Our party has a duty of care to our members," he said.

"That means intervening to stop personal abuse and abiding by the principles of natural justice in the way we handle it.

"Politics is demeaned and corroded by intimidation and abuse. It is not my way and it is not the Labour way and never will be."

Mr Smith, who left the hall in Liverpool without making a concession speech, later said: "Congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn on being elected decisively as our leader.

"Now is time for all of us to work to take Labour back to power.

"I am proud and privileged to have stood to lead our party and to have won the support of 193,000 members and supporters. Thank you all."

In a video message to supporters before the result was announced in Liverpool at 11.50am, Mr Corbyn insisted that internal critics had a "duty to unite", regardless of the margin of victory.

After private talks this week with senior MPs on Labour's moderate wing, Mr Corbyn is expected to seek to rebuild his frontbench team.

The resignation of more than 40 frontbenchers in June left him unable to fill all his shadow ministerial posts and reports have suggested that as many as 14 may be ready to return following the failure of Mr Smith's bid to unseat him.

But others, including Hilary Benn, Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna are thought likely to focus on their bids to secure the chairmanship of influential parliamentary committees, which will allow them to take prominent roles scrutinising Theresa May's government from outside Mr Corbyn's camp.

Labour's ruling National Executive Committee is due to meet, having put off a decision earlier this week on proposals to restore elections to the shadow cabinet, which might have given some centrist MPs a route back into Mr Corbyn's top team.

It was not clear whether the issue will be settled over the course of the coming week's annual conference in Liverpool, with Mr Corbyn preferring a wider review of Labour's democratic structures to give more decision-making power to the membership.

The bruising leadership contest followed a mass walkout from the shadow cabinet and a 172-40 vote of no confidence in Mr Corbyn's leadership by MPs.

Urging the party to come back together, Mr Corbyn quoted from the maiden Commons speech of Labour MP Jo Cox, who died after being shot and stabbed earlier this year.

"Always remember in our party, we have much more in common than that which divides us," he said.

Mr Corbyn added that Labour had more than tripled in size since its general election defeat last spring to become the largest political party in western Europe, with a "nationwide movement" able to win support for the election of a Labour government.

"Now is the time for all of us to focus every ounce of our energy on exposing and defeating the Tories and the damage they are doing to our country," he said.

"Theresa May's Government isn't a new government - it's David Cameron's government with a new hard-right edge, repackaged with progressive slogans but threatening to take the country backwards and dithering as we face the historic challenges of Brexit."

Responding to the Labour leader's re-election, Conservative Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin said: "Labour are too divided, distracted and incompetent to build a country that works for everyone.

"One hundred and seventy-two Labour MPs don't think Jeremy Corbyn can lead the Labour Party - so how can he lead the country?

"Instead of learning lessons from the past, they have engaged in a bitter power struggle that will continue even after they've picked a leader.

"While Labour row amongst themselves, this Conservative Government will continue to deliver a country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few."