LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn is heading to Southampton today.

An anonymous source close to the Labour Party has revealed that the leader of the opposition will stage a rally in Southampton on Saturday as part of his tour of close marginal seats in a bid to make his party election ready if Theresa May’s government collapses.

Mr Corbyn is seeking to maintain his leadership’s momentum in the wake of the election and cement his grip on the party in the run up to Labour’s annual conference in September.

It is believed the rally will take place at Guildhall Square from 12noon.

A senior Labour party official told the Echo: “We’ve also got campaign days confirmed over the summer. With May coming out and asking for other parties’ help, the Government is in a really odd place, so we are going out engaging, showing we are listening.

“Jeremy has tapped into something out there, it’s now about building on that.”

Councillor Satvir Kaur, chair of the Southampton Labour Party, who refused to confirm whether or not the party leader was coming to the city, said: “I am very happy that Jeremy Corbyn is interested in visiting Southampton.

“We had great success in the city at the election particularly Southampton Itchen that was a big target for us however at the moment we cannot say when the visit is happening.”

Labour came within 31 votes of winning Southampton Itchen from the Tories on June 8.

Southampton City Council Leader Simon Letts lost to incumbent Tory MP Royston Smith after several recounts.

Mr Corbyn visited Southampton in May during the election campaign to make manifesto pledge to provide 10,000 extra police officers.

However later that day Labour’s police proposals ran into trouble when shadow home secretary Diane Abbott appeared confused over the costings of the scheme in an LBC radio interview.

Recent YouGov polls show that the Labour Party is eight points ahead of the Tories on 46 per cent.