Labour’s biggest nightmare.. UKIP voters switching to Conservatives

LABOUR is facing up to an election mauling with growing evidence that huge numbers of UKIP voters will switch back to the Tories. Analysis by the Mirror reveals that Jeremy Corbyn could lose up to 60 seats to the Tories as the UKIP vote collapses. A senior Shadow Cabinet source said: “The message on the doorstep so far has been terrible. All the UKIP voters seem to be flocking to the Tories and it is going to hit us like nothing before.” As Mr Corbyn was blasted for trying to “parachute” key aides into safe Labour seats against the wishes of local parties yesterday, an Ipsos Mori poll put Theresa May on course for a decisive victory, with the Tories on 49% and Labour on 26%. UKIP, which won 3.8 million votes and came third in 2015, was on just 4%. Mrs May has acted to win over UKIP voters with a hard Brexit and her revival of grammar schools, while UKIP’S leader Paul Nuttall has failed to find the support of predecessor Nigel Farage. In one typical at-risk Labour seat, Holly Lynch held Halifax in 2015 by 428 votes, but UKIP got 5,621 votes, so if just 10% of those turn to the Tories the seat would go blue for the first time since 1983. Another Labour MP whose seat is at risk from the UKIP collapse said: “There is without doubt a shift from UKIP to the Tories and the only question is quite how big. It is too early to judge that yet.” Our analysis shows that of the 100 most marginal Labour seats, 61 could fall if UKIP voters peel off to the Tories. If some Labour supporters also switch, the losses will be even higher. A Tory MP in a northern seat said reaction on the doorstep had been “unheard of ”. “People don’t like Jeremy Corbyn, simple as that.” The MP said the Tories were targeting Labour strongholds such as Leeds West, where ex-shadow Cabinet minister Rachel Reeves has a 10,727 majority. The Tory MP said: “There are 7,000 UKIP votes. If we pick up most of them,