Millions Of Labour Voters Pick May Over Corbyn

More than two and a half million people who voted Labour at the last election would choose Theresa May over Jeremy Corbyn to be Prime Minister, a new poll suggests.

When asked which leader they would prefer to lead the country, 29% of Labour voters - equivalent to 2.7 million people - opted for the Conservative Party's new PM.

The YouGov survey for The Times also found that Mrs May's government enjoys a 12-point lead over Labour in general.

It is the biggest gap between the two parties in the six years since Labour fell from power in 2010.

Adding to Mr Corbyn's woes is the finding that only 19% of all voters polled believe that the current Labour leader would make a better Prime Minister.

The poll also indicated that Mrs May appears to be picking up some support from UKIP voters.

The findings have been seized on by the Owen Smith Labour leadership campaign as proof the party message is not getting across to voters under Mr Corbyn.

Mr Smith's campaign manager, Kate Green, told Sky News the fact Labour voters would rather have a Conservative Government was "very serious".

She said: "That is a real failure of our party, a failure of our responsibility on behalf of the people that we aspire to represent.

"We have to be, as the Labour Party, a credible party, hungry for government. We have to have a leader who can deliver that for us."

The poll comes amid a High Court challenge that could result in Jeremy Corbyn being forced to seek the backing of MPs to stand in the leadership contest.

Labour donor Michael Foster is claiming in the court that the party's rules were not properly applied when its governing body allowed Mr Corbyn to run for leadership without the backing of 51 of his MPs and MEPs.

Earlier, an ICM poll suggested Labour is as far behind the Tories as it was when Margaret Thatcher won a landslide victory over Michael Foot in 1983.