LABOUR risks losing a million votes to UKIP in the next general election because of its support for EU membership, with a senior backbencher saying it will suffer in badly areas like Worcestershire.

Pro-Brexit former minister Frank Field’s warning came as the party continued its push to win over wavering supporters to vote Remain.

Surveys have suggested many Labour voters are confused about where the party stands on Europe, with critics accusing Jeremy Corbyn of failing to give a strong lead on the issue.

Mr Field said: “In trying to scare Labour voters to back Remain, our leadership is on course to lose another one million votes to UKIP, just as we did in 2015.

“Labour voters must be encouraged in the referendum to vote as they believe is in the best interests of our country.”

REGISTRATION DASH

MORE than 436,000 people applied to vote in the EU referendum during the 48-hour extended registration period after the Government-run website crashed.

Some 238,903 voters applied to register online on Wednesday, joined by 191,508 on Thursday, and another 5,936 people using paper forms, bringing the total applications over the last four days to almost 1.2 million.

As the Worcester News revealed earlier this week, the deadline to register to vote was pushed back by MPs after thousands of voters were prevented from registering by the original deadline of midnight on Tuesday when the website failed.

MILIBAND WARNING OVER IMMIGRATION

LEAVING the EU will not end the problems caused by immigration, Ed Miliband warned today.

The former Labour leader claimed withdrawal from the bloc would set back the cause of social justice in Britain for “decades to come” during a speech.

UNIVERSITY JOBS REVEALED

More than 19,000 jobs are supported by EU university research funding which pumps £1.8 billion into the UK economy, figures show.

The study by Universities UK said British educational institutions attracted £838 million in grants from EU sources in 2014-15.

The report found that UK universities do disproportionately well in gaining EU money.

THINKTANK CLAIM

The result of the June 23 referendum on Britain's EU membership will have "important implications" for the economic prospects not only of the UK, but of the rest of the continent, an international economic thinktank has warned.

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) identified the referendum as one of the challenges facing the EU as it continues its recovery from the recession and eurozone crisis.

And it warned that the migrant crisis was "shaking confidence" in the EU as a whole, and was likely to cost the 28-nation bloc as much as 0.2% of its £11 trillion GDP - or around £20 billion - in 2016.

The OECD has previously warned that Brexit would be "a major negative shock to the UK economy" with "economic fallout" for the rest of the EU.

CAM PUTS VOTERS OFF

Voters are twice as likely to have been persuaded to vote to leave the EU by listening to David Cameron than convinced to remain, according to a new poll.

Research for the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) suggested most people were entirely unmoved by interventions from leading political figures.

But the Prime Minister and other prominent advocates of keeping Britain in the bloc will be alarmed by the evidence that they are in fact encouraging people to back the rival camp.

Pollsters BMG quizzed a representative sample of 1,638 UK adults online between May 20-25 about how influenced they had been by various high-profile individuals.

ANOTHER WORCESTER EU DEBATE

YOUNGSTERS from a Worcester school will get to debate the EU next week during its very own hustings bash.

Former Labour parliamentary candidate Councillor Joy Squires, now deputy leader of the city council, is among the line-up at Bishop Perowne CE College on Wednesday.

Green Councillor Louis Stephen, UKIP’s James Goad, who also stood for parliament last year in Worcester and Peter McNally, from the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, are also attending.

Year 9 and 10 pupils will take part in the debate between 11am and 1pm.