Labour heads for its worst election in 86 years as Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and Ukip collapse hands Tories prized seats
LABOUR is heading for its worst election result in 86 YEARS as a Ukip collapse hands the Theresa May’s Tories dozens of prized seats across the country, the Sun can reveal.
Forecasts from expert pollster Matthew Goodwin claim Labour could lose up to EIGHTY MPs on June 8th as a “perfect storm” batters Jeremy Corbyn’s official opposition.
Of 80 potential losses listed – an incredible 69 could turn Blue – from Greater London, to Yorkshire and the North-East. The SNP could take Edinburgh South, Labour’s last seat in Scotland.
Theresa May launched her election campaign in Bolton North-East – ranked 49th most vulnerable seat in our table.
Mr Goodwin told the Sun: “Labour is facing a potent cocktail of problems.
“There are still not seen to be economically competent and they have one of the most unpopular leaders in British political history.
“But they also have a divided and unclear message on issues that ordinary families really care about, such as Brexit and immigration.
“And they now have no meaningful presence in Scotland.”
Mr Goodwin’s forecasts would be enough to hand the Tories a landslide majority of well over 100.
The politics professor at the University of Kent - told the Sun that just a 5 per cent swing on June 8 would see Labour lose 42 seats.
An “entirely plausible” 10 per cent swing would cost the party 80 seats and leave them on just 154 – the worst result since 1931.
The Conservatives took Copeland in Cumbria from Labour at a by-election in February with a 6.69 per cent swing.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell insisted Labour would “shock people” with the way it would turn the polls around. And Jeremy Corbyn will today insist the Election result is not a “foregone conclusion”.
But the bleak forecast came at the end of a day where four more Labour MPs said they would not be contesting the Election.
Three are among the 80 MPs at risk - Vote Leave chair Gisela Stuart in Birmingham Edgbaston, Iain Wright in Hartlepool and Rob Marris in Wolverhampton South.
Mr Goodwin said much of the devastation facing Labour in the polls would also stem from UKIP voters deserting the anti-EU party in droves.
Around 300,000 of the four million people who backed UKIP in 2015 could switch to the Tories, he said.
But he said the 2017 Election would confirm the “fragmentation of the political system” with results marked by local battles.
While the UKIP vote is set to collapse, he believes the party could pick up four seats in arch Brexit territories such as Hartlepool Co Durham and Dagenham in Essex.
Mr Goodwin also believes Labour could lose four seats to the Lib Dems.
Before announcing she would no longer be running, Gisela Stuart admitted it would be impossible for Labour to win a majority on June 8th. She said: “It is unlikely, if I look at the figures, that we will have a Labour government.
"What I want is actually a very strong representation of the Labour Party in the House of Commons.”
The German-born former minister added: “I want a government with a strong majority. At the moment, unfortunately, that looks to me less likely to be a Labour government.”
Lord Kinnock said he was unlikely to see another Labour Prime Minister in his lifetime.
The former Labour leader said: “I think that it’s unlikely that we will make the kind of gains because – as I said before, unless there are substantial changes, that I am unlikely to live to see another Labour government.
“In the time since then, there haven’t been the substantial changes that I would have wanted, and therefore I’m as gloomy about my prospects of living to see another Labour government as I was then.
“However this is the Labour Party; he is the leader of the Labour Party; and members of the Labour Party, Members of Parliament, candidates (and) rank and file members will fight like hell to advance the Labour cause.”