Payback time as Britain goes to the polls today
CAMERON, MILIBAND TIED AT 35% EACH AMID LACK OF VOTER TRUST IN LEADERS
Deadlock and stalemate. That’s what Britons will get today after voting closes at 10pm local time (1am UAE time tomorrow). A stream of opinion polls for the past ten days have shown that there’s nothing between David Cameron’s Conservatives and Ed Miliband’s Labour — and both are tied at around 35 per cent each.
Yesterday, on the eve of voting in what will the tightest election in four decades, the last batch of opinion polls showed that, despite days of intensive campaigning, wall-to-wall media coverage and blitzes of constituencies up and down this United Kingdom, there is no clear unity.
Four separate opinion polls for national papers showed the same range in support, though if there is a trend, it is that the anti-European Union United Kingdom Independence Party led by Nigel Farage is improving though it would be hard pressed to get 15 per cent of votes.
In effect, after days of intense politicking, both Miliband and Cameron have failed to make a breakthrough and haven’t tapped into a single key issue that gives them an advantage going into today’s voting.
“Despite the television debates, manifesto launches and policy announcement, nothing seems to be shifting the dial,” Katherine Peacock, managing director of polling firm ComRes said yesterday.
“Much of this is down to a distinct lack of trust in politicians and political parties. Indeed, half of voters do not trust them to deliver their promises.”
Sturgeon irony
The irony is that the party leader with the highest approval rating is Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party. The SNP looks like winning 55 of the 59 seats in Scotland, and although she wants to break up the UK and see Scotland go its own way, voters in England and Wales wish they could vote for her.
“She seems like a very sharp lady,” retired lorry driver John Halper told Gulf News. “You can tell that she is committed and you can trust her. It’s a pity she wants to take Scotland out of the UK, but she seems the most honest and trustworthy of the lot.”
YouGov’s Peacock notes that the lack of trust in leaders makes it harder for them to win — and tactical voting doesn’t help either.
“With this level of cynicism and one in five voting in order to stop a party they don’t like from winning, it’s easy to see why so little has changed,” she said.
The polls open at 7am. The first results from the 650 constituencies should come in within an hour of the 10pm close, and with majority of seats being declared by 4am. The final results should be known by lunch time tomorrow.