We will win, even in Owen Smith's constituency, claim Team Corbyn

Private polling puts Corbyn on track for victory in Owen Smith's Pontypridd constituency

Corbyn (left) and Smith debating in Oldham last night (BBC)

Jeremy Corbyn will defeat Owen Smith in the Labour leadership election, even in the Welsh MP’s own constituency, Mr Corbyn’s campaign has claimed.

Corbyn’s leadership team’s own polls said that 64% of Labour members polled in the Pontypridd had said they would vote Corbyn. 29 per cent said they would vote for Owen Smith, with 5 per cent undecided.

Owen smith’s campaign called the suggestion ‘blind assertion.’

A spokesperson for the Jeremy For Labour campaign said: "These figures indicate that Jeremy Corbyn can reach out and draw on support from right across our party.

"It further shows the success of Jeremy's positive campaigning approach over the negative tactics of our rivals."

National polls, including one conducted by Yougov for The Times, suggest a landslide victory for Mr Corbyn.

A YouGov poll for the Times published last week placed Mr Corbyn 24 points ahead of Mr Smith, with a predicted 62% share of the vote.

A spokesperson for the Owen Smith campaign said: "This isn't a poll - it is a blind assertion.

"Owen is confident he will win the backing of his local party. Our phone bank data has Owen comfortably ahead, and he won his CLP nomination by a landslide."

And Mr Smith referred to his own internal polling last week, claiming: "The phone banking we've been doing shows this is still balanced on a knife-edge. It's 50/50."

Last night, Labour lost a council by-election in the Sheffield ward of Mosborough, to the Liberal Democrats, dropping 9.2 per cent of their share of the vote. It is only three weeks since Corbyn’s Momentum movement held a rally in the town.