Owen Smith just said he would negotiate with ISIS

Jack Taylor / Stringer

Labour leadership hopeful Owen Smith made an incredible claim about his approach to foreign policy during a televised BBC debate with Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday morning.

Smith and Corbyn, who debated a host of issues in front of a studio audience on the Victoria Derbyshire Show, were asked whether the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, should be invited to negotiate in any future peace process in Syria. 

Smith, who said he played a part in the Northern Irish peace process earlier in his political career, said: "Ultimately all solutions to these crises do come about through dialogue.

"So eventually if we are to try and solve this, all of the actors do need to be involved. At the moment, ISIL are clearly not interested in negotiating… At some point, for us to resolve this, we will need to get people round the table."

Responding to the same question, the current Labour leader Corbyn ruled out negotiating with the terrorist group. "They're not going to be round the table, no," he told Derbyshire. 

Watch the moment Smith says he would be prepared to negotiate with ISIS.

Ian Dunt (@IanDunt), who is the editor of Politics.co.uk, tweeted saying "genuinely horrified by what Smith just said" and moments later followed up with "there is only one moral solution to dealing with Isis and that is to destroy them. Anyone who cannot see this is in a very dark place."

This is how other Twitter users reacted to Smith's claim:

Business Insider has contacted Owen Smith's office for comment.