Jeremy Corbyn handed poll boost ahead of showdown with Labour MPs

Jeremy Corbyn has been handed some much-needed ammunition just hours before the Labour leader faces his MPs in the House of Commons on Monday evening (16 January).

A YouGov poll, of more than 1,600 voters between 9 and 10 January, showed that Labour has risen by 2% in the polls following Corbyn's relaunch last Tuesday.

Aides to the left-winger have said Corbyn will adopt Donald Trump-style tactics, including a more aggressive approach on social media, to get his message across to UK voters.

But Labour are 13 points behind the Conservatives (39% versus 26%) and Corbyn was criticised after appearing to U-turn on two key policy areas last week: immigration and pay reform.

Corbyn was expected to say that Labour was "not wedded" to EU free movement rules, but the Labour leader later qualified that they "don't rule it out".

He also proposed a maximum wage cap, which was later modified to a maximum wage ratio of 20:1 for bosses in a bid to curb "excess".

Corbyn was hit with another blow later in the week when Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Tristram Hunt announced he planned to quit the Commons.

Hunt, a historian, is to become director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The move comes after Corbyn critic and Copeland MP Jamie Reed also announced his plans to quit frontline politics.

Labour MPs, with these two by-elections in mind, are set to grill their leader at the weekly parliamentary party meeting on Monday night.

Corbyn told BBC One's Andrew Marr show on Sunday that he would fight "very hard" to retain the West Midlands and Cumbrian seats.

"You are making the assumption that everything is a problem. It is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to challenge the Government on the NHS, it is an opportunity to challenge them on the chaos of Brexit," he said.