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Labour’s dreams of victory now look like pure fantasy with growing evidence that disgruntled UKIP voters plan to switch to the Tories.

Analysis by the Mirror reveals that Jeremy Corbyn could lose up to 60 seats to the Tories from the UKIP collapse.

A senior Shadow Cabinet source said: “The message on the doorstep so far has been terrible. All the UKIP voters seem to be flocking back to the Tories and it is going to hit us like nothing before.”

Polls yesterday showed Theresa May on course for a decisive victory, with the Tories on 49% and Labour on 26%.

The Ipsos Mori survey showed UKIP, which won 3.8 million votes and came third in 2015, on just 4%.

Our research shows there are dozens of Labour-held marginals which could turn Conservative if the UKIP voters decide to back Mrs May, who has adopted their flagship policies of a hard Brexit and a revival of grammar schools.

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(Image: Getty)

UKIP’s new leader Paul Nuttall has failed find the level of support of his predecessor Nigel Farage .

In Labour’s most marginal seat, City of Chester, Chris Matheson is defending a majority of 93, but there are 4,148 UKIP votes up for grabs.

Labour’s Holly Lynch held Halifax in 2015 by 428 votes, but UKIP, who finished third, got 5,621 votes. If just 10% of those switch to the Tories the seat would go blue for the first time since 1983.

It is a similar story in Newcastle-under-Lyme where Paul Farrelly has a majority of 650, with 7,252 UKIP votes up for grabs.

The Tories need a swing of less than 10% from UKIP to win the seat. A Labour MP whose seat could be at risk from the UKIP collapse said: “We are seeing signs of this happening. 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 to the Tories or the Lib Dems, or simply do not vote, the losses could be even higher.

One Labour source claimed private polling puts support at just 20%, the worst result since the Second World War.

(Image: Getty)

A Tory MP in a Northern seat said reaction on the doorstep over the past week has been “unheard of”. “People do not like Jeremy Corbyn . It is as simple as that.”

The MP claimed the Tories are even targeting Labour strongholds such as Leeds West, where former Shadow Cabinet minister Rachel Reeves has 10,727 majority.

“There are 7,000 UKIP votes in Leeds West,” the MP said. “If we pick up most of them, then it only takes a couple of thousand Labour voters to sit on their hands and we are there. It’s hard to believe what is happening.”

Tim Bale, professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, said by going for a Hard Brexit Mrs May had handed UKIP voters “everything” they wanted.

He said: “Labour is not offering them anything on immigration or grammar schools and Theresa May is offering everything. It’s worrying for Labour.”

The Ipsos Mori poll also showed Mrs May is rated more highly than Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair , with 61% regarding her as the “most capable” party leader. Just 23% named Mr Corbyn.

But a senior source close to Mr Corbyn said Labour’s position would improve and polling had “a chequered record “.

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In the final PMQs before Parliament is dissolved for the election , Mrs May said Mr Corbyn was “simply not up to the job” of running the country. He was criticised by his own party, with outgoing MP Michael Dugher telling the New Statesman: “It is a remarkable achievement for the leadership to have taken a catastrophic situation in Scotland and made it quite a lot worse.”

But a senior source close to Mr Corbyn played down the disastrous polling and insisted Labour’s position will improve over the last six weeks of the campaign.

“We have all come to understand that polling has a pretty chequered record recently,” he said.

“As Jeremy himself has said, we obviously have the fight of our lives on our hands, but I think it’s clear that as Labour is able to speak with its own voice in this election campaign in a way that hasn’t been entirely the case for the previous 18 months.

“I think the public will respond very clearly to what are very popular policies that we will be setting out to transform the way Britain is run, in the interests of the many not the few.”

A majority of voters want chicken Theresa May to go head-to-head with her rivals in live TV election debates.

A BMG poll for the Independent found 54% of people want the PM to take part in a TV showdown - with just 25% backing her right to chicken out.

There was also strong support for the broadcasters to go ahead with the debates and “empty chair” Ms May if she fails to show up.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The debate has to include the Prime Minister, the leader of the Conservative party. We are up for that debate.

Sources close to the Labour leader said Mr Corbyn would not take part in TV debates if they do not include Mrs May.

The Labour leader would be likely to snub a broadcast showdown with fellow opposition leaders that did not feature the Prime Minister, they said.

Mrs May has repeatedly refused to sign up to a TV head to head with Mr Corbyn, prompting the Mirror Chicken to leave its coop for the election campaign.

A senior Labour source said: “If you’re talking about a debate about the possible outcomes of the election, you’re talking about a debate between the Conservative Party and the Labour Party first and foremost.

“To have a debate among opposition parties doesn’t meet that objective at all.

“I don’t think having a debate among opposition parties in any way meets the objective of giving the British people a chance to see what the real choices are in this election campaign.

“Our challenge is to the Prime Minister to have the strength and guts to actually face a direct debate with Jeremy Corbyn on the issues facing the country.

“The fact she is running scared of that is a sign of her weakness not her strength.”

The source added: “We have made clear this election is a choice between a Conservative government or a Labour government, there is no other possible outcome.

“It is extraordinary that the Prime Minister feels unable to face a direct television debate with the leader of the only other possible government that could come out of this election.

“It’s a sign of weakness not of strength.

“We continue to press to have those debates, and a head to head debate with Theresa May.”

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs May was again rapped for chickening out of live head to head debates with Mr Corbyn.

Labour MP Grahame Morris asked her why she was “running scared of the televised leadership debates” with the Labour leader.

But she insisted: “I have been in televised debates with the Leader of the Opposition week in and week out since I took over as Prime Minister.

“I will be taking across all parts of this country a fine record for a Conservative government.”

TEN LABOUR SEATS AT RISK FROM UKIP COLLAPSE

1. Halifax

(Image: PA)

Labour MP Holly Lynch

Majority: 428

Result in 2015:

Labour – 17,506

Tory – 17,078

UKIP – 5,621

Last went Conservative in 1983

2. Barrow & Furness

(Image: PA)

Labour MP John Woodcock

Majority: 795

Result in 2015:

Labour – 18,320

Tory – 17,525

UKIP – 5,070

Last went Conservative in 1983

3. Hartlepool

(Image: Evening Gazette)

Labour MP Iain Wright

Majority: 3,024

Result in 2015:

Labour – 14,076

UKIP – 11,052

Tory – 8,256

Has never voted Tory since it was created in 1974

4. Stoke-on-Trent South

Labour MP Rob Flello

Majority: 2,539

Result in 2015:

Labour – 15,429

Tory – 10.593

UKIP – 9,542

Labour since it was created in 1950

5. Wakefield

(Image: PA)

Labour MP Mary Creagh

Majority: 2,613

Result in 2015:

Labour – 17,301

Tory – 14,688

UKIP – 7,862

Last voted Tory in 1931

6. Alyn & Deeside

Labour MP Mark Tami

Majority: 3,343

Result in 2015:

Labour – 16,540

Tory – 13,197

UKIP – 7,260

Has never voted Tory since created in 1983

7. Dagenham & Rainham

(Image: Getty)

Labour MP Jon Cruddas

Majority: 4,980

Result in 2015:

Labour – 17,830

UKIP – 12,850

Tory – 10,492

Labour since it was created in 2010

8. Mansfield

(Image: Getty)

Labour MP Sir Alan Meale

Majority: 5,215

Result in 2015:

Labour – 18,603

Tory – 13,288

UKIP – 11,850

Has never voted Tory since the seat was created in 1885. Liberal Democrats held it in 1922.

9. Great Grimsby

Labour MP Melanie Onn

Majority: 4,540

Result in 2015:

Labour – 13,414,

Tory – 8,874

UKIP – 8,417

Held by Labour since 1945

10. Walsall North

(Image: PA)

Labour MP David Winnick

Majority: 1,937

Result in 2015:

Labour – 14,392

Tory – 12,455

UKIP – 8,122

Held by Labour since 1979

*Iain Wright is standing down.