Game on: Jeremy Corbyn delivers a stump speech after the Prime Minister calls a snap election. Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/PA Images. All rights reserved.If Labour MPs want to avoid losing their seats, they need to ignore Corbyn and focus on opposing Hard Brexit. The very issue that drove Theresa May to call a snap election is now Labour’s best chance against a collapse. The case for this is now blindingly plain to see.
By most measures the Labour party isn’t going to do well in June. They are trailing the Tories by 10-20 points, depending on which polling company you ask. One poll last night put their lead at 24%. Worse, Corbyn is badly behind May when voters are asked who would make the better Prime Minister. It's worse because leader ratings can pull up or drag down the party’s popularity, as Ed Miliband found out.
Of course we can quibble over whether the polling is right or wrong. We can criticise errors in recent elections, but they were broadly within the margin of error. Labour is highly unlikely to get a 10 point margin of error, that too in its favour. I mean, it could happen, but the chances are vanishingly remote. And perhaps the pollsters have missed some non-voters, but all our evidence shows they are older and more right-wing than the average. That’s not helpful to Corbyn.
