Leaders’ last push as polls tighten
LEADERS of the main parties were engaged yesterday in a frantic last drive for votes in a General Election both Tories and Labour have described as the most important in a generation.
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn crisscrossed the country in a final bid to shore up support and get out the vote.
Final opinion polls suggested that while the Conservatives remain in front, they are still not guaranteed an overall majority.
The Prime Minister began his day with a photo-opportunity delivering milk in the Conservative-held marginal of Pudsey in West Yorkshire, insisting he was “fighting for every vote”.
While there, he was seen entering a fridge in an apparent attempt to avoid being interviewed by a reporter from Good Morning Britain.
Asked for an interview by Jonathan Swain, the Prime Minister replied: “I’ll be with you in a second” and then he walked into a fridge with staff from Greenside Farm Business Park.
Taking the Labour campaign to Middlesborough, Jeremy Corbyn joked: “I’ve not come here to deliver milk, or to hide in a fridge. I’ve come here with a message of hope.”
The Labour leader had started his last day of campaigning in Glasgow South West – where Labour is hoping to overturn an SNP majority at the last election of just 60 – with a promise of “real hope” for voters affected by years of austerity.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson was concentrating her efforts on the area around London and Surrey, where the party is hoping to pick up seats.
They include Esher and Walton, where polls have suggested Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab may be vulnerable, despite a majority of more than 23,000 at the 2017 general election.
Ms Swinson said the polls showed it was still “absolutely possible” to deny the Tories an overall majority through tactical voting.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined SNP candidates in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and Dunbartonshire, while Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage was heading for South Yorkshire.
Speaking in Doncaster, Mr Farage said he was hoping for “very, very heavy rain” in the town on Thursday in the belief that it would depress the votes of the other parties.
“I know that people who are going to vote for us will turn out, because they absolutely believe in our message, they believe in their hearts as well as in their heads,” he said.
A final constituency-by-constituency poll by YouGov forecast that the Conservatives are on course for a 28-seat majority.
However, it warned the margin of error – together with the unknown impact of tactical voting – meant a hung parliament is possible, as is a larger Tory majority.
A 28-seat majority would be the best Tory result since Margaret Thatcher’s in 1987 – but it is sharply down from the 68-seat victory margin forecast just two weeks ago.