The Labour Party is “confident” of winning a seat in Watford at the next general election, according to Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Corbyn was in town this morning, visiting the Tudorken Pharmacy in St Albans Road, after announcing a Labour Government would end prescription charges.

He spent around an hour at the pharmacy speaking to staff, and he was joined by Watford Labour’s parliamentary candidate Chris Ostrowski.

Mr Corbyn discussed Brexit and the Prime Minister’s visit to Watford last week but we also asked Mr Corbyn about the recent Tudor Ward by-election, held just round the corner from the pharmacy, which saw Labour slump behind the Tories and Lib Dems.

Labour trailed the Conservatives by 280 votes after Thursday’s results were revealed, having finished 49 votes ahead of them during the election held in May.

Watford Observer:

(left to right) Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Chris Ostrowski and Shadow Health Secretary Sharon Hodgson arrive for a visit to a pharmacy in Watford to talk about his party's NHS plans (Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA)

But it appeared the Labour leader was unaware of his party’s showing in Tudor ward.

Speaking to the Observer, Mr Corbyn said: “I don’t know the result of that ward particularly but our party is very strong and very active.

“I am very confident that going into a general election we will gain Watford and Chris Ostrowski will be the next MP for Watford and he will be a very splendid MP too.”

Mike Jackson, chairman of Watford Labour, backed Mr Corbyn.

Mr Jackson said: “Tactical voting is now well established in Watford and this was true in Tudor where many Labour voters switched to the Lib Dems to defeat a resurgent Tory campaign whose numbers were boosted by many parliamentary hopefuls from far and wide.

“But in general elections it’s clear the reverse is true when voters will swing behind Labour as the only party that can defeat Boris Johnson’s Tory candidate.

“In 2017 Labour was just 2,000 behind the Tories with the Lib Dems getting just 9 per cent share of the vote.”