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The Conservatives are heading for a “trouncing” at next year’s council elections, an expert said today.

Professor Philip Cowley, of Queen Mary University of London, sounded the alarm for the Tories as a new poll suggested the party would suffer a “terrible night” in London next May.

The YouGov survey, for QMUL’s Mile End Institute, of more than 1,000 adults in the capital put Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party on 53 per cent, once “don’t knows are excluded,” with the Tories trailing on 29 per cent.

Professor Cowley told the Evening Standard: “This would be Labour’s best performance since 1971 in borough elections — in fact the best performance of any party — and it would be a terrible night for the Tories.

"They would get a trouncing.”

If the poll turns out to be an accurate prediction, backing for Labour would soar from just over 37 per cent to more than half of Londoners.

Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond, Conservative vice-chair for London, said: “We have a problem, not only in London but in metropolitan Britain. Unfortunately, we have to accept we are not in sync with the ideas and mores of metropolitan Britain at the moment.”

Theresa May’s former communications chief Katie Perrior added: “If we are not bold in our offer, we can kiss goodbye to more Conservative controlled councils come May next year and will have nobody to blame but ourselves.”

Meanwhile Mr Corbyn admitted in an interview with the Yorkshire Post newspaper that he still has to do more to win over voters in traditional Labour heartlands away from London. Labour has faced criticism that it is too London-centric, with Mr Corbyn and several members of his top team all representing constituencies in the capital.

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, is shadow Home Secretary, Islington South MP Emily Thornberry is shadow Foreign Secretary, while shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer represents Holborn and St Pancras.

Other London MPs in the shadow cabinet include Brent North’s Barry Gardiner, Ealing North MP Steve Pound, Hayes and Harlington’s John McDonnell, Brent Central MP Dawn Butler, Edmonton’s Kate Osamor and Erith MP Theresa Pearce.

Speaking in Shipley, West Yorkshire a key target for Labour at the next election, Mr Corbyn said he understood concerns from party members that their popularity was drifting in ex-industrial areas. He said: “I understand that and therefore I am spending time campaigning in all parts of the country.” While Labour made gains in London at this year’s election, they lost traditional seats such as Stoke and Mansfield to the Tories.