LET’S REIGNITE BRITISH SPIRIT

Theresa’s rallying cry as she warns Corbyn will tax your work, your garden, your home and your inheritance

THERESA May issued an eve- of-poll rallying call last night to ‘reignite the British spirit’.

She called on Labour supporters to back the Tories in the national interest and for the country to get behind her over Brexit.

Pledging a nation built on fairness and security, the Prime Minister said she would use the opportunity of leaving the EU to create the greatest meritocracy in the world.

And she warned families of a Labour tax bombshell, saying: ‘Jeremy Corbyn will tax you while you work, he’ll tax your garden and he’ll tax your home when you pass it on to your loved ones.’ Mrs May’s patriotic appeal came as:

Two opinion polls suggested the Conservative campaign had stabilised, with a comfortable majority in sight;

The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned Labour would push the tax burden to its highest ever peacetime level and hit families with an average £750 annual bill;

Cage, the human rights group which called Islamic State killer Jihadi John a beautiful young man, endorsed Mr Corbyn;

Labour was under fire after activists in Bristol erected a banner showing the Prime Minister with Star of David earrings;

The widow of Ian Gow, the Tory MP murdered by the IRA, broke her silence to warn against Labour;

Mr Corbyn sidelined Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott following a

string of disastrous media performances.

Tory strategists were cautiously optimistic of victory last night after a difficult campaign that was overshadowed by two terrorist atrocities.

An ICM poll for the Guardian gave Mrs May a 12-point lead, putting the Conservatives on 46 per cent and Labour on 34, with the Liberal Democrats on just seven and UKIP on five.

A ComRes poll for the Independent had the Tories on 44 per cent, Labour on 34, the Lib Dems on nine and UKIP again on five.

Earlier polls suggested the Tory lead could be as low as one point – a result that would produce a hung parliament and potentially put Mr Corbyn in Downing Street.

The Labour leader insisted he was on course to win, telling a series of rallies that the Tories had ‘ underestimated us’.

His hardline Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told activists they had ‘the opportunity of a lifetime to install a socialist in No 10’.

Mrs May yesterday warned against complacency and said there was ‘no safe vote for Labour or the Lib Dems’.

After a six-week campaign, in which the polls have tightened sharply, Mrs May – with husband Philip by her side – travelled 600 miles on the last day to target seats in Southampton, Nor-

‘I believe in the British people’ ‘Corbyn will tax you while you work, he’ ll tax your garden and your home when your pass it to your loved ones’

wich and Nottingham.

She finished the day with an election rally of 1,000 supporters in Solihull, West Midlands.

In her final pitch before the polls opened, Mrs May said: ‘ There are great things we can do together, and I want us to reignite the British spirit to show the opportunities and what we can be as a country.

‘I believe in Britain and I believe in the British people. That is the message we will take out in the remaining hours. Let’s go out there, not for ourselves but for the future of our country.

‘My very simple message is – vote Conservative in the national interest.

‘Give me your backing to lead Britain; give me the authority to speak for Britain; strengthen my hand when I negotiate for Britain; and with that I will deliver for Britain.’

Mrs May called on voters to ‘fix their sights on the future and vote for a better future of fairness, security and opportunity for all’. She said Britain under her leadership would be ‘a stronger, more united country that stands tall in the world’.

But she said everything depended on Brexit, reminding voters that negotiations began in 11 days.

‘Give me your backing to lead Britain, speak for Britain, fight for Britain, and deliver for Britain,’ she said. ‘If we get Brexit right, we can build a Britain that is more prosperous and more secure. A Britain in which prosperity and opportunity is shared by all.

‘A Britain where it’s not where you come from or who your parents are that matter, but the talent you have and how hard you are prepared to work.

‘The greatest meritocracy in the world. That’s my ambition for Britain. Not just to get the right deal for Britain abroad, but to get a better deal for ordinary working people at home.

‘To put the power of government firmly at their service, to stand up for the weak and stand up to the strong, and put the voices and interests of ordinary working people at the heart of everything we do. This is the prize ahead if we get Brexit right. So if, like me, you believe in Britain. If, like me, you want our country to succeed. If, like me, you believe in putting division behind us, in looking to the future and getting on with the job of building the stronger, more secure country that we need, then fix your sights on the future. In a direct plea to ‘patriotic’ Labour voters considering switching for the first time she said it was ‘not about how they voted before’ and promised to ‘ensure economic prosperity and opportunity is spread around the country’.

‘I want us to build a country where nobody and no community is left behind,’ she insisted. Recalling her attempt to win a safe Labour seat in 1992 she appealed to ‘the sort of people I met when I stood in NW Durham’ who are ‘fiercely patriotic’ and ‘very proud of their part of the country’.

Mrs May reminded voters that if the Conservatives lost just six seats it would mean a ‘coalition of chaos’ and working people would pay the price with economic collapse under Labour.

Despite some polls suggesting a very tight race and Labour as close as one point behind, Conservative officials exuded a quiet confidence about the result.

Asked by a Dunelm worker what she would say to undecided voters, Mrs May replied: ‘I really want people to go out and vote because I want to show that our democracy is not deterred by what’s happened.’

Raising her hand in emphasis, Mrs May also urged women to cast their ballots, saying: ‘Women died so that women could vote.’

Making a speech in Norfolk she said: ‘I would say to people it’s not how they voted before, it’s a question of who they want to see taking this country through not just the next five years but setting the direction for the country for the future.’