FORMER Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has told of her tears over the EU referendum outcome - saying she is worried that her children have been "let down".

The Malvern-based former Labour politician says the result left her "bitter and angry" and fearing for the nation's young people.

Mrs Smith, who now works with the NHS in Birmingham, teamed up with West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin in a cross-party show of unity to back Remain in the weeks ahead of the vote.

Britain's first ever female Home Secretary, who served under Gordon Brown, said: "Through bitter and angry tears, my overriding feeling was that I had let my children down.

"Parents of teenagers often know what this feels like, but today I realise I have let everyone else's children down too.

"One of the reasons for the Leave vote was a feeling of immense alienation from the political class and institutions.

"The EU itself needs to take some responsibility for too often appearing to be a monolithic bureaucracy, rather than a manifestation of solidarity and social progress.

"I wish I had spent more time long before the referendum campaign challenging and defending it.

"But our politics has become so small that we could not make the case for our place in the world and our role in the EU.

"We will be smaller, less influential and less able to respond to the myriad problems that cross borders - climate change, terrorism and financial crises."

In a detailed argument penned for Progress magazine the mum-of-two, aged 53, said the real failure of the Remain campaign was failing to connect with voters who see "no benefit to themselves or their families" from globalisation.

In it, she also said the Labour Party should drop its anger with one of its own MPs, Gisela Stewart, who ran the Leave campaign, and work with her to shape the best EU deal possible rather than allow Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson to take the lead.

"We face a period of time when jobs are under threat - when businesses may flounder; when immigrants may feel insecure and when bigots may feel emboldened," she said.

"Our test now is to craft a response to this which protects those most vulnerable from the impacts of the short-term uncertainty and the long term isolation.

"What should our role be in the tortuous negotiations that will now start?

"I think Gisela Stuart should play a key role and we should support her.

"I know there are many who feel angry about the role she played in the Leave campaign - however she is a sensible, but radical Labour politician who was on the winning side.

"The alternative is to risk our future being shaped by Farage’s bigotry or Johnson’s buffoonery."

* To see the whole piece go HERE.