Jeremy Corbyn did not intend to say Labour will lose no seats in Thursday’s local elections, his official spokesman has said.
The Labour leader surprised MPs on Tuesday when he said at a campaign event that the party was “not going to lose seats”. Independent experts and internal party polling had estimated Labour could lose somewhere in the region of 100 to 150 council seats in England.
Asked about the comment, Mr Corbyn’s spokesman said it had been “misinterpreted”.
“What he said was he would make no prediction about the number of seats [that would be] won or lost in the local elections. We’re not in the business of losing seats and we’ll be fighting to win as many as possible,” he said.
Challenged over the exact wording of Mr Corbyn’s comment, which was explicit that the party would not lose seats, the spokesman said: “I’m telling you what he was intending to say.”
While the party could lose seats in the English council elections, Mr Corbyn will be boosted if Sadiq Khan wins the London mayoralty. The Labour candidate is polling well ahead of his Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith, with an Opinium poll on Tuesday giving him a nine-point lead.
However, Labour MPs are also concerned that the party could perform badly in both the Welsh and Scottish Assembly elections.
The party’s electoral performance is likely to have a bearing on whether rebel Labour MPs decide to launch a leadership coup against Mr Corbyn, with reports suggesting a challenge could emerge after the EU referendum in June.
