Scurry for votes on eve of UK election
BRITISH politicians raced around the country yesterday, the final day of campaigning for a parliamentary election today that will define Britain’s approach to leaving the EU, but has been overshadowed by two militant attacks in as many weeks.
Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip were greeted with jeers of “Vote Labour” as they visited a London meat market.
Later, she enjoyed a warmer reception 110km away at a bowls club in Southampton, while Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, started the day in the Scottish city of Glasgow.
May unexpectedly called the June 8 election seven weeks ago, seeking to boost her parliamentary majority ahead of the start of Brexit negotiations and to win more time to deal with the impact of the EU divorce.
But the campaign has seen a number of unexpected twists, including the deadliest militant attack in Britain since 2005 and the shrinking of May’s once commanding lead of over 20 percentage points in opinion polls.
Attacks by Islamist militants in Manchester and London threw the spotlight on security, while May was forced to backtrack on a social-care policy pledge in a move that pundits said was unprecedented.
“Give me your backing in the polling station to battle for Britain in Brussels,” May said. “Get those negotiations wrong and the consequences will be dire.”
May has repeatedly said only she can deliver the right deal for Britain, and that opponents would lead its £1.93 trillion (R32 trillion) economy to ruin in negotiations with the EU.
Pollsters expect May to win a majority. But if she fails to beat handsomely the 12-seat majority her predecessor David Cameron won in 2015, her electoral gamble will have failed and her authority will be undermined both inside her Conservative Party and at talks with the 27 other EU leaders. When May stunned all by calling the snap election, her poll ratings indicated she could be on course to win a landslide majority on a par with the 1983 majority of 144 won by Margaret Thatcher.
But May’s poll lead has shrunk over the past three weeks. The latest polls put her party anywhere between 12 to one point ahead. One projection said she would win a majority of 64 seats.
There will be an exit poll as soon as voting ends. The first seat results are then expected to be announced by 11pm local time, with the majority of the 650 constituencies due to announce results by tomorrow morning.
Britain’s The Sun urged its readers to back the Conservatives. But Corbyn has run a strong campaign.
The Daily Mirror urged voters to “give hope a chance” and back Corbyn in today’s vote.