Final push in UK’s knife- edge polls
The Conservatives and Labour launched their final push on Monday to woo voters ahead of this week’s British general election, as potential kingmaker parties marked out their territory.
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour Opposition leader Ed Miliband kicked off the final three days of campaigning with stark messages to voters about the choice they face. With polls showing the two main parties neck- and- neck and unlikely to win a majority, the race to take Downing Street will likely hinge on smaller parties such as the Scottish National Party ( SNP) and the Liberal Democrats.
“It’s the start of a week when Britain will decide its future. By Friday you’ll either have Ed Miliband or me as your prime minister,” Mr Cameron said.
“It’s that simple — an inescapable choice: me leading a strong and stable government, or with him: the chaos of being held to ransom by the SNP.
“Your vote can and will make a difference. It’s that’s close.”
Miliband said the election was a “clash of two visions” about wages, health and young people. He tried to hang the election battle on contrasting plans for the state- funded National Health Service.
“In the final few days of this general election, the future of the NHS is at risk in the way it hasn’t been for a generation,” he said.
“There is no bigger choice at this election than the future direction of our NHS, the bedrock of security for so many working people in our country.”
The latest BBC poll of polls out Saturday gave the centre- right Conservatives 34 per cent and centre- left Labour 33 per cent. The populist UK Independence Party were on 14 per cent.