Torn apart by the Tories... now it’s time for us to heal our great nation

IS ONLY ONE WAY TO SAVE BRITAIN

IT is almost time to decide. Four days before the British people go to the polls to choose what sort of country we want our children to grow up in.

Do we want a nation in which the rich prosper and everyone else is left to cope – even the disadvantaged, the sick and the infirm? Or do we want a truly Great Britain. A land where everyone has a chance to make something of their lives?

That is the decision you and every voter must take on Thursday.

Much about this election has been unpleasant, with remorseless attacks on Ed Miliband and scare stories about a fantasy life under Labour.

Too little has been made of what the Tories and their LibDem partners did. They boast of rescuing the economy and setting the nation on the path to prosperity. That is not a scenario most of us recognise.

It is an insult to the millions who have been made to suffer by the needlessly harsh, even cruel, Coalition policies. So many sections of society have been attacked that it is astonishing anyone is thinking of voting Tory. Apart from their superrich mates, of course.

Why would nurses or doctors vote for them after what has happened to the NHS? Why would teachers, after the way they have been undermined along with the education system? Why would the police or armed forces, when their numbers have been slashed?

Why would lawyers, after the deep cuts to legal aid and the undermining of the justice system? Why would mothers of young children, when the Sure Start scheme has been decimated? Why would students, when university tuition fees were trebled and the Education Maintenance Allowance axed?

Why would the disabled, when allowances have been abolished and thousands thrown on the dole by the axing of the Remploy scheme?

Why would young people, struggling to find a job and with no prospect of getting a home? Why would the elderly and infirm, when care budgets have been cut to the bone?

In fact, why would ANYONE when the standard of living for most fami- lies has seen the biggest drop of modern times?

The amazing thing isn’t that the party which claims to have wrought an economic miracle is not way ahead in the polls but that it is anywhere near winning. But it is.

If the polls are right – and it is unlikely they could all have been wrong for so long – we are heading for a result in which no party will have an overall majority.

All we know for sure is that, when the haggling stops and the dust settles, either David Cameron or Ed Miliband will be Prime Minister.

This election’s breakthrough has been the surge in support for smaller parties. All have some attractive policies – the Greens, UKIP, the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales. But none will get anywhere near holding power. To vote for them is avoiding the most crucial decision of our times: Do we want to let David Cameron and his gang loose to continue their destruction of the best of Britain? Or do we want a Labour government which will restore fairness and justice?

There is no doubt what it would mean if the Tories got back. There would be cuts so deep and so painful our welfare state would be all but wrecked. Life for millions who are already struggling would become virtually impossible while the wealth of the rich grew ever more obscene.

That alone would be reason enough to support Labour. But voters are entitled to hear a positive case. And there is a very positive one.

Doubts about Ed Miliband’s leadership have been shattered. The doubters have seen him rise to the challenge. And Labour has shown responsibility in its economic plans. Unlike the Tories, who recklessly pledged billions in unfunded promises.

The pinnacle of an Ed Miliband government will be saving the NHS, with thousands more doctors and nurses, and no more privatisation.

That would be just the start. The disadvantaged and poor would be protected, ordinary people helped by improving living standards and the rich made to pay their dues.

It is time to heal our great nation. For your sake, for Britain’s sake, it has to be Labour.