Politics By Graham Sharpe
With Jeremy Corbyn missing his scheduled visit to Oldham West to support Labour's candidate in next week's by election, bookmakers William Hill are seeing support for Ukip to produce a shock victory there, and from opening odds of 1/12 (stake £12 to win £1), Labour have now lengthened to 1/4 (stake £4 to win £1), with Ukip shortening from 6/1 (stake £1 to win £6) to 11/4 (stake £4 to win £11).
'By-elections are notorious for producing shock results and political punters are sensing there could be another in Oldham West & Royton and betting accordingly' said William Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe. 'We're seeing almost no significant support for a Labour win at the moment with three in every four bets staked on Ukip.'
Such a defeat could cause Mr Corbyn even bigger problems than he is currently endeavouring to overcome following his controversial 'letter', wich has seen the odds for him to cease to be leader this year cut by William Hill from 11/1 to 7/1. Dan Jarvis has been installed as 3/1 favourite to succeed Mr Corbyn as Leader.
OLDHAM WEST/ROYTON BY ELECTION...1/4 Labour; 11/4 UKIP; 100/1 Tories; 200/1 Greens, Lib Dems
%AGE OF VOTES CAST FOR LABOUR? - UNDER 50%- 2/9; 50% OR OVER- 3/1
WHEN WILL CORBYN STAND DOWN AS LEADER?...7/1 2015; 5/4 2016; 9/2 2017; 10/1 2018; 12/1 2019; 6/1 2020; 6/1 2021 OR LATER
WHO WILL SUCCEED CORBYN AS ELECTED LEADER?...3/1 Jarvis; 8/1 Watson; 9/1 Nandy; 10/1 Benn; 10/1 Umunna; 12/1 D Miliband; 16/1 Starmer; 18/1 Kinnock; 18/1 Reeves; 50/1 Coaker; 50/1 Powell. Others on request.