Jeremy Corbyn said he has been subjected to "lies and smears" over accusations that he acted a Communist spy during the Cold War.

The Labour leader said newspapers which made the reports were going "a little bit James Bond" over the "increasingly wild and entirely false" claims.

He lashed out at rightwing newspaper owners, who he said were running scared of a potential Labour Government, in a video statement posted on social media.

The video was filmed and released by Mr Corbyn's office. He refused requests from ITV News to answer questions about the matter.

It comes after the Sun reported that archives of the Czech StB intelligence agency showed that Mr Corbyn met with a Communist secret agent during the 1980s on at least three occasions.

He is said to have been assigned the codename 'Cob', with reports suggesting that he may have passed information to Soviet state.

The story was later picked up by a number of news organisations.

Mr Corbyn has already flatly denied claims that he acted as a spy.

He threatened Tory MP Ben Bradley with legal action over a tweet claiming he "sold British secrets to Communist spies".

And he reacted dismissively when questioned over the claims by a Daily Mail reporter at a press event.

In his latest statement, Mr Corbyn said a free press was "essential for democracy" but added "At the moment, much of our press isn't very free at all."

"In fact it's controlled by billionaire tax exiles, who are determined to dodge paying their fair share for our vital public services.

"The general election showed the media barons are losing their influence and social media means their bad old habits are becoming less and less relevant.

"But instead of learning these lessons they're continuing to resort to lies and smears."

The Labour leader's office acknowledged that Mr Corbyn had had tea in the Commons with a Czech diplomat, but said any claim he was "an agent, asset or informer for any intelligence agency is entirely false and a ridiculous smear".