Jeremy Corbyn is far ahead of his rivals in the Labour leadership election, a YouGov poll for the Times has revealed.

The veteran leftwinger, who only scraped onto the ballot paper in the final few minutes before close of nominations, tops the poll in the first round with 43 per cent of the vote.

In the first round, Andy Burnham is in second with 26 per cent of the vote. Yvette Cooper is in third with 20 per cent. And Liz Kendall is in fourth place with 11 per cent of the vote. After transfers, he defeats Burnham, considered by many to be the frontrunner, by 53 per cent to 47 per cent.

YouGov, who accurately called the result of the last Labour leadership election, surveyed party members, affliated supporters, and registered trade unionists to compile the poll, which echoes figures seen by the New Statesman last week. In a second survey by YouGov, Tom Watson emerges as the winner in the deputy race, winning in the first round before going on to triumph overall.