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Labour’s scrambling to save two ­Westminster seats on Thursday embodies the depth of the crisis Jeremy Corbyn is facing.

A party heading for power would be increasing ­majorities in Stoke Central and ­Copeland, instead of fighting a rearguard battle to save a couple of Parliamentary bastions.

Seasoned Labour campaigners are pretty confident the fibs of UKIP’s Purple Pinocchio Paul “Dr Nutty” Nuttall increase the likelihood of their party clinging on in the Potteries.

And hapless Theresa May raised Labour spirits in nip-and-tuck Cumbria. The PM’s “This lady’s not for talking” routine, dodging legitimate questions on the NHS, ensured her regal visit backfired spectacularly.

The Labour leader’s office plans to dispatch Corbyn to Stoke on Friday if Labour is successful – and ­Copeland too should both remain coloured red on the electoral map.

Yet the relief mixed with enthusiasm should Labour hold both, and I make no prediction, might merely paper over the deep fissures.

It would be a Dunkirk moment, salvaging as much Labour support as possible, not a D-Day offensive ­signalling an inevitable march on Downing Street and a majority in the House of Commons.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Because Dr Nutty, a former Tory dressing as if he’s a country squire rather than from Bootle, wouldn’t even be in with a shout if Labour was electrifying the party’s working class heartlands. The same goes for the Tories sniffing an upset in Copeland when Labour must convert ­Conservatives across the country to return to high office.

It’s been claimed that losing ­Copeland would be the first time since the 1982 Mitcham and Morden by-election that an opposition lost a seat to the ruling party. But the Labour MP in that contest defected to the SDP.

So better comparisons – or much worse for Labour if ­Copeland turns blue on Thursday – are Brighouse and Spenborough in 1960, where it ceded the ­constituency to a merged Conservative and National Liberal candidate.

Or Sunderland South in 1953 when Labour was turned over by the Tories.

Blaming Labour’s woes on last summer’s insurrection against Corbyn is comforting for the leader’s dwindling base and beleaguered team when his personal ratings are dreadful and the party trails way behind May’s Cons in the polls. I’m losing count of prominent Left-wingers publicly endorsing Corbyn while privately branding him a liability. His chorus is certainly quietening.

On LBC radio a few Fridays ago, I devoted an hour appealing for Jezz-uits to sing his praises. This time last year we would have been inundated by callers. This month I had just one. Labour’s in a deep hole.

Stoke and Copeland determine if it has halted the descent or is still digging.