Jeremy Corbyn gains eight points on Conservatives in new poll usually unfavourable to Labour

Ukip have entirely disappeared, being overtaken by the Greens

Jeremy Corbyn has gained eight points on the Tories, in a poll that is usually among the least favourable to Labour.

The party has slimmed down the Conservative lead to only 15 points. Jeremy Corbyn's personal favourability – often held as the biggest problem for Labour to win the election – has also improved, according to the new data.

The findings come from new polling by Ipsos MORI, a polling company that tends to be among the least favourable to Labour's chances, published by the Evening Standard. They came on the same day that Labour shot to its best polling since the election campaign began.

The poll shows the Conservatives on 49 per cent, and Labour on 34 per cent. Tony Blair won a majority in 2005 with 35 per cent of the vote, just one percentage point more.

The poll still suggests that Theresa May is on course for a major victory on June 8. But the gap between her party and Labour is continuing to shrink.

The other parties is gradually falling away. The Lib Dems are third with seven per cent, down from 14, and Ukip have had their support cut by half to a mere two per cent.

Ukip's crumbling support has led it to lose ground to the Greens, which now beat the party with three per cent.

Theresa May is still the most popular leader, and the only head of the major parties with whom more people say they are satisfied than say they are dissatisfied. And despite gradually improving support for Mr Corbyn, 60 per cent of those polls said that Labour isn't yet ready to govern – with even a quarter of Labour voters sharing the worry.

Labour still has work to do despite the positive results, Gideon Skinner, head of political polling at Ipsos MORI, told the Evening Standard.

"Labour shouldn’t get too carried away by the rise they see in the polls," he said.

“The focus on their manifesto may have helped them this week, but on many fundamentals such as leadership the public still puts them a long way behind the Conservatives, and their vote is much softer, with one in six of their supporters considering voting for Theresa May’s party.”