Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith to face-off against each other as poll predicts Labour defeat no matter who is leader
Tories are 14 points ahead of Labour in the latest YouGov poll which gives the Opposition its lowest rating since 2009
JEREMY Corbyn and Owen Smith will square up against each other tonight on the day a poll revealed the Tories are absolutely battering Labour.
The YouGov survey puts Theresa May and her party 14 points ahead of the Opposition.
This is the biggest Tory lead since November 2009, late in Gordon Brown’s Government, The Times reports.
And voters continue to significantly prefer Theresa May over Jeremy Corbyn for the role of Prime Minister, for a ratio of almost three to one.
Both Corbyn and Owen will want to address these statistics during a Labour Party hustings in Cardiff tonight.
Polls suggest Corbyn is way ahead of his leadership rival and Smith has warned that Labour could “bust apart and disappear” if the veteran leftie is re-elected.
YouGov research suggests support for Labour could fall to about 20% if the right or left of the party splits off.
Before tonight’s hustings Corbyn made a speech in Dagenham, East London, where he unveiled his plan to “rebuild” Britain.
While his team have made an effort to smarten him up with a pale suit, blue shirt and a brown belt, his shoes revealed the scruffy Corbyn of old.
And the Labour leader, who is expected to handsomely win the contest against Owen Smith, took time to take some selfies with supporters at the event.
During the speech he said: “There is immense potential in the skills and talents of our people and huge opportunities ahead of us in science, technology and culture.
"We could all be living richer lives in a sustainable, more prosperous and more caring society.
"Labour will pledge to rebuild and transform Britain with a bold £500 billion programme of investment.
"We will deliver the transport and communications infrastructure a modern economy needs, not just in those places where the economy already works but right across the whole country.
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"We will back this up with new institutions able to deliver the investment our communities so desperately need.
"A new £250 billion national investment bank, backed up with a network of regional development banks, will put power to determine their own futures back into the hands of those places outside of Westminster and the City of London."
He also outlined a plan to renationalise the National Health Service.
Smith, who walked out of the shadow cabinet after the EU referendum, has laid out a radical programme of reform - including a pensions overhaul, changes to benefits and a higher minimum wage - which he said would amount to the "biggest boost to living standards for a generation".
The decision to bar Labour members who joined after January 12 from voting in the leadership election is being challenged in the High Court, in a crowd-funded case brought by some of the estimated 130,000 people who have been excluded.