Boris’ last-ditch Brexit pitch
PRIME MINISTER: PLOUGHED DIGGER THROUGH ‘GRIDLOCK’ WALL, GEARING UP FOR SNAP POLL
Final survey predicts a narrow majority, with the race tightening.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to demolish three years of stalemate over Brexit, as Britain’s political leaders geared up for a frantic final day of general election campaigning yesterday.
Johnson ploughed a British flag-themed digger, marked “Get Brexit done”, through a styrofoam wall with “gridlock” written on it, in a bid to ram home his core message in time for today’s snap vote.
Johnson’s centre-right Conservatives have been consistently ahead in the opinion polls, but YouGov’s final survey predicted they were set for a narrow majority, with the race tightening.
The pollsters’ seat projection put the Conservatives on course for a relatively slender 28-seat majority in parliament’s 650-member lower House of Commons – down from a comfortable 68 forecast by YouGov on November 27.
Johnson’s current Conservative minority government hopes to secure a majority that would let him pull Britain out of the European Union (EU) by the end of next month.
The new poll forecast that the Conservatives would take 339 seats (up 22 on the last general election in 2017), with the Labour main opposition on 231 (down 31).
The Scottish Nationalists are on course for 41 seats, up six, while the Liberal Democrats are set for 15 seats, up three.
YouGov interviewed approximately 100 000 panellists over the past seven days.
But it warned that the final number of Conservative seats could be between 311 – hung parliament territory – and 367.
The main party leaders prepared to criss-cross the country yesterday in a last-ditch pitch for votes.
“However you voted in the EU referendum, your priorities have been ignored over the last three years while parliament has been in gridlock – unable to focus on the issues that matter to you, because it was so busy arguing with itself about Brexit,” Johnson said.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sought to exploit the Conservatives’ perceived weakness on state healthcare and divert attention from his own mixed messages on Brexit.
But his push to narrow the poll gap was not helped by a leaked recording in which Labour’s own health spokesperson called the left-wing party’s prospects “dire”.
“It’s abysmal out there,” Jonathan Ashworth said in a recording published by a right-wing website. “They can’t stand Corbyn and they think Labour’s blocked Brexit.”
Ashworth told the BBC the tape was real but he was speaking in jest. Nonetheless, the Conservatives are worried about how today could go.
An internal memo published by The Daily Telegraph warned just 40 000 votes in 12 constituencies could see Corbyn become Britain’s next premier. – AFP