Punters have handed over nearly £1 million and the money is on the Conservatives to comfortably romp to victory. Analysis of bets made through Smarkets, an online betting exchange, shows Jeremy Corbyn will take a major hit in the north and Midlands. In the top twenty leaving voting seats, nine are set to fall to the Conservatives. They include previously rock-solid Labour seats like Bolsover in Derbyshire, which has been held by former miner Dennis Skinner since 1970.
Dudley North, a key Conservative target seat, has the highest chance of switching from Labour to the Tories in the most Brexit-backing seats at 89 per cent.
Its outgoing MP, former Labour minister Ian Austin, quit the party over its handling of the anti-Semitism crisis and made a public call for local voters to back the Conservatives to stop Jeremy Corbyn entering No 10.
Ashfield, Stoke-on-Trent North, Great Grimsby, Scunthorpe, West Bromwich West and Bassetlaw are all predicted to turn blue. Around seven in ten voters in each of the constituencies voted for Brexit.
The analysis found there is almost a one in two chance of other Leave seats, including Don Valley, being lost.
Caroline Flint, who has represented the South Yorkshire seat since 1997, has been a vocal critic of Mr Corbyn’s fudged Brexit policy.
The former minister said the Labour leader’s claim he will renegotiate the exit deal with Brussels and then put it to a second referendum is “toxic to our bedrock Labour voters” and would “drive a wedge between them and our party”.
Mr Johnson is hoping to smash through the so-called red wall of Labour seats in the north and Midlands by pledging to deliver Brexit by January 31 followed with a trade deal by the end of next year.
The Prime Minister has warned the public that voter volatility means the election will go “down to the wire”.
Traditional polling has the Conservatives ahead but a small drop in support could lead to another hung parliament.
The analysis by Smarkets is based on the £880,000 gambled on results in individual constituencies.
Sarbjit Bakhshi, the firm’s head of political markets, said: “If Labour’s ‘red wall’ collapses it could be in the areas that voted heavily to leave the EU.
“Traders are expecting significant losses to the Tories in parts of the country that have always voted Labour. The election could be won or lost in these seats and, as things stand, Boris Johnson will get the majority he needs as a result.”
