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Jeremy Corbyn last night delivered the best TV performance of his leadership as he insisted he is ready to become Prime Minister next week.

Critics from all sides of the political ­spectrum praised the Labour leader as he survived a live grilling from a Sky TV studio audience and presenter Jeremy Paxman.

Vowing he is ready to become PM, Mr Corbyn said: “The choice is clearly there.

“This manifesto – investing for the future, taxing a bit more for corporations and the very wealthiest. Or you can go down the road of continuing cuts in all areas of public austerity.

“I don’t want to live in a country of food banks, of homeless people. I want to live in a country that really does care for all.

“I am very proud of this manifesto, proud to lead this party. And I will be very proud to put this manifesto into action.”

In the live Sky/Channel 4 show Mr Corbyn tackled questions about security, defence and past meetings with the IRA.

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(Image: Sky News)

And he handled bulldog interviewer Mr Paxman with aplomb, raising laughs when he was asked why abolishing the monarchy is not in his manifesto, given his republican views. He smiled: “There’s nothing in there because we’re not going to do it.”

However, he struggled when pressured about his opposition to the Falklands War and refused to say if he would sanction a drone strike on an Islamic State jihadi.

He said: “It’s a completely hypothetical question. You have to look at the evidence to make that fatal decision.”

It came as a survey showed Labour closing the gap on the Tories.

The Survation poll for Good Morning Britain – taken before last night’s TV show – found Theresa May ’s lead has been slashed to just six points.

(Image: Sky News)

Support for Labour has soared by 8% in the two weeks since the last Survation/GMB poll,. The survey also found almost half of those questioned agreed with Mr Corbyn’s statement that Western military intervention abroad puts Britain at greater risk of terror attacks.

Mrs May was also grilled on TV last night, receiving a far rougher ride from the studio audience. A police officer blasted the “devastating” cuts to the number of bobbies on the beat since 2010.

And a furious pensioner from Wigan savaged the PM over her hated plan to force people to pay for their care with their own homes after their deaths.

He told her: “I don’t like the prospect of being unable to leave [my house] to our family without a greatly eroded value – which is what I fear would happen if you introduced your dementia tax .”

(Image: Sky News)

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An NHS worker also criticised the “chronic underfunding of the health service.”

Mrs May insisted the Tories are pledging real-terms increases in the NHS budget.

But the young nurse shot back: “I see a lot of efficiency savings that are actually cuts.

“I see hospitals closing, I see staff that are at their wits’ end.”