Labour leadership debate: Jeremy Corbyn scores overwhelming lead in unofficial Sky poll

Jeremy Corbyn has taken an overwhelming lead in the Labour party's leadership race after the final hustings held last night, according to an unofficial poll of viewers using Sky Pulse.

Sky News said that about 80.7% of those polled immediately after the debate showed that Corbyn won the hustings, with Liz Kendall only managing 8.5%, Yvette Cooper with 6.1% and Andy Burnham emerging last with 4.7%.

Corbyn, the broadcaster which hosted the debate said, seemed to gain momentum during the hustings. Before the debate started, a poll using Sky Pulse indicated that 66.5% of those polled believed Corbyn would outperform the other candidates.

The Independent seemed to agree with the poll, saying: "The left-winger went into this debate as the front-runner and by the reaction of the audience he came out as winner - with very little sign, as the other candidates claim, that his support is beginning to wane."

The paper said that the three candidates "fail to land the blows" in the final televised hustings. More than 10,000 people used the Sky Pulse tool during the final Labour party leadership debate which saw the four candidates discuss views on various issues. The new Labour leader will be announced on 12 September.

Sky News said that anyone could participate in the poll as long as they provided their age, political affiliation and gender. The broadcaster said that the information provided however was not verified.

It said that two-thirds of Sky Pulse voters felt that Corbyn had the best answer on how to deal with the refugee crisis, with the remaining three - Cooper, Burnham and Kendall, evenly split on about 12%.

A total of 81% of those polled also agreed with Corbyn's stance on tackling Islamic State or Isis.

Sky News' political correspondent Sophy Ridge said: "Unscientific, we have to stress, but it did seem that whenever Jeremy Corbyn was talking, people were clicking more favourably on the Pulse."

The broadcaster said that Burnham scored positively when he admitted that the Labour party had drifted away from voters and warned that the party "needed to face up to this."

The Independent said that the shadow health secretary started the Labour race as a favourite but has "undeniably, underperformed." It attributed this to him trying to "be all things to all people: the union candidate who was pro-business; the authentic Northerner who could appeal to swing Labour voters in the South, and the man who would stop all the Tory cuts while balancing the books."

Only 30% of those polled agreed with Kendall that it was time for the party to have a female leader.

The Independent says that Kendall is going to come out last in the leadership campaign, noting that even her own supporters "are not pretending otherwise."

On Cooper, the Independent said that although she seems to have emerged as the most credible alternative to Corbyn, she "does not have a natural constituency either on the right or left of the party.

"If she wins it will be as the compromise candidate who attracts the most second preferences," the paper said.