LABOUR voters are more radically minded than supporters of rival left-wing parties, according to polling released yesterday by the London School of Economics.

A YouGov survey of members and supporters of Britain’s six biggest parties put Labour slightly to the left of the Greens based on “objective” measures. 

On a scale where 0 represents the left and 10 the right, Labour was placed at 1.60 compared to the Greens on 1.65 and the Scottish National Party (SNP) on 1.86.

The findings were based on responses to six “ideologically charged” statements, such as “big business benefits owners at the expense of workers” and “there is one law for the rich and one for the poor.”

But the picture changed when members and supporters were asked to place their own and other parties on the political spectrum.

Most Labour voters said they were more left-wing than their party and believed the Greens were more left-wing than Labour.

Labour members ranked their party 3.44 on the scale, compared to 3.23 for the Greens and 3.75 for the SNP.

Professor Tim Bale said the findings boosted Jeremy Corbyn’s security as Labour leader and supported his mandate to take the party in a more clearly anti-austerity direction.

On the right, the objective measures placed Ukip supporters to the left of Liberal Democrat voters.

But Mr Bale explained that the responses of Ukip supporters were likely to be driven by a populist rather than class-based antipathy toward big business.

“Perhaps, then, they are not so very left-wing after all,” he added.