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Corbyn vows 'to turn back the Tory tide' after Copeland loss

Jeremy Corbyn is claiming he can "turn back the Tory tide" despite a new opinion poll suggesting Labour would perform much better with a new leader.

After Labour was swept away by the Conservatives in Copeland, Mr Corbyn will attempt to fight back in a speech at the Scottish Labour conference in Perth.

Ahead of his speech, the embattled Labour leader says he takes his share of responsibility for Copeland - but blames globalisation and a rigged economy.

"We haven't done enough yet to rebuild trust with people who have been ripped off and sold out for decades and don't feel Labour represents them," he wrote in the Sunday Mirror.

"But if we stand together, I am confident we can do that and turn back the Tory tide."

Defiantly rejecting calls to step down, he added: "I was re-elected Labour leader five months ago with a bigger majority and I am determined to finish that job: to reconnect Labour with our working class voters and values - so we can win power to rebuild and transform Britain, for the many, not just the few."

A ComRes poll, also in the Sunday Mirror, strongly contradicts Mr Corbyn's claims:

:: 31% say they would be more likely to vote Labour if the party was not led by Mr Corbyn;

:: 77% of non-Labour voters don't believe the party has the right leader; and

:: 71% of this group believe Labour has lost touch with the working classes.

The poll suggests the most popular alternative leader to Mr Corbyn would be London mayor Sadiq Khan, who was given a rousing reception by Labour activists at the Scottish conference in Perth.

More than 100 miles south of Copeland, in Wigan - solidly Labour since 1918 - Sky News found that Mr Corbyn divides opinion among voters.

"He's got the true values of working class people," said one man. "I think the Parliamentary Labour Party should get behind him."

But one female voter said: "I just don't like him - don't know what the word is - I think he lies a bit."

And another woman said: "I don't think any of them know what's best for us at the moment. It'll have to be wait and see and hope for the best."

Wigan's MP, Lisa Nandy, speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, says it's no good Mr Corbyn blaming globalisation and a rigged economy for results like Copeland.

"The trouble with looking at every factor apart from Labour is that it's just a thoroughly inadequate response," she told Sky News.

"If we really want to address what has been happening to the Labour Party for a very long time, then we as a party need to get out of our comfort zone and start confronting some of the very difficult issues we face."

Asked by Ridge if she gave Mr Corbyn a year to turn things around, the MP said: "That's what his close team said, that they're determined to do that within a year - and I think that's absolutely critical.

"We can't obviously go into a general election in the state that we're currently in."