It speaks volumes of Jeremy Corbyn’s growing confidence that he began the session by welcoming the fall in unemployment.

Previous Labour leaders have squirmed when good jobless figures have been published ahead of Prime Minister’s questions knowing it hands an easy card for their opponent to play.

By acknowledging the fall from the off, Mr Corbyn took the wind from Theresa May’s sails.

You had the impression that she had a stockpile of lines to be deployed mocking Labour’s refusal to reference the good news.

All of them suddenly became redundant.

Caught off guard, Mrs May’s confidence, which has been in a fragile state since the election debacle, also appeared to dip.

Theresa May stuttered and stumbled (
Image:
BBC)

Jeremy Corbyn neatly switched to this morning’s climbdown on the universal credit following his criticism last week that claimants of the benefit had to use a 55p-a-minute help line.

He then asked if the Prime Minister would go further and pause the roll out of the welfare reform.

“Yes,” Mrs May replied. This was followed by an excruciating series of “ers”, “ums” as she tried to clarify her remarks.

It was only a small slip but it encapsulated how the mood in the Commons has shifted.

Conservative MPs looked on glumly while Labour MPs relished the PM’s stuttering reply.

Mrs May tried to move the conversation back to the state of the economy by lecturing Labour on financial husbandry.

Jeremy Corbyn was comfortable debating the economy (
Image:
BBC)

At one time this line of attack used to play well for the Tories but, as Mr Corbyn readily pointed out, it is difficult to claim you are the party of economic responsibility when you bung the DUP £1billion to cling on to your job.

Mrs May then tried to take the debate back to the Tory equivalent of a comfort blanket: attacking Labour for causing the financial crash.

Again, the Labour leader was quick on his feet and dragged up a quotation from George Osborne which exonerated Gordon Brown for the 2008 recession.

Taking the fight to the Tories, he reeled off a string of poor economic indicators from falling wages, low growth and declining productivity.

Far from having a strong economy we have a weak economy, he noted three times.

The unemployment figures should have secured a victory for Mrs May.

Now she cannot even beat Jeremy Corbyn on the economy.

Score: Jeremy Corbyn 2 Theresa May 1

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