UK Labour heads for a disaster
Corbyn failing to close gap enough
BRITISH Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing a general election rout, an exclusive poll for The Sun has revealed.
A week of campaigning has helped the Labour leader make some headway, but he still lags 19 points behind Prime Minister Theresa May.
The Conservatives also have an 11-point lead in key Labour-held marginal seats, according to the ICM poll.
It points to a landslide victory for the Mrs May, who would be returned as PM with a 142-seat majority.
The Sun’s poll, taken at the end of the first week of electioneering, puts the Conservatives on 47%, Labour 28%, the Lib Dems 9%, Ukip 8% and SNP and the Greens 4% each.
ICM boss Martin Boon said: “As the frenzy associated with the election call dies away, people have begun to focus on the main themes.
“But the Conservative lead has dipped to only 19 points, two lower than produced by our poll earlier last week.
“Labour have emerged with the possibility of a mere rout rather than electoral oblivion.”
Some experts calculate the Tories will be returned with 400 seats, with Labour capturing only 171.
Mr Corbyn is on track for a bitter first taste of defeat on Thursday when he is expected to lose 150 council seats in the party’s worst local election drubbing for 35 years.
Labour MPs fear it will deepen the gloom ahead of the June 8 general election.
Experts predict Labour will scoop only 30% of the vote in the town hall polls, nine points worse than when the same seats were contested four years ago.
Such a result would put Mr Corbyn’s Labour on course to be the first Opposition in decades to lose council seats in a non-general election year.