Britain’s political leaders were yesterday to crisscross the kingdom on the final day of general election campaigning as a key poll showed the outcome could be hanging in the balance.
Conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn were set for whistle-stop tours of key battleground seats in a frantic last push for votes.
Today’s snap general election was called in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock that has gripped Britain ever since the seismic 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU.
After struggling to lead a minority administration, Johnson is hoping to secure a majority government that would enable him to take Britain out of the EU on Jan. 31.
His center-right Conservative Party has been consistently ahead in the opinion polls, but YouGov’s final survey of the campaign predicted that it was set only for a narrow majority — with the race tightening.
The seat projection put the Conservatives on course for a relatively slender 28-seat majority in parliament’s 650-member lower House of Commons — down from 68 forecast by YouGov on Nov. 27.
The new poll forecast that the Conservatives would take 339 seats (up 22 on the last general election in 2017), with the left-wing Labour Party on 231 (down 31).
The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) was on course for 41 seats, up six, while the Liberal Democrats are set for 15 seats, up three.
YouGov warned that the final number of Conservative seats could be between 311 — hung parliament territory — and 367.
“The margins are extremely tight and small swings in a small number of seats, perhaps from tactical voting and a continuation of Labour’s recent upward trend, means we can’t currently rule out a hung parliament,” YouGov political research manager Chris Curtis said.
Pollsters interviewed approximately 100,000 panelists over the previous seven days.
Johnson, 55, was to start the day delivering milk in Yorkshire, northern England, and end it canvassing in Essex, northeast of London.
“Unless we get out of this quicksand of a Brexit argument, our future as a country remains uncertain... A lost decade of division, delay and deadlock,” Johnson said. “Let’s get Brexit done and get on with spreading opportunity and hope across the whole UK, and let’s unleash the potential of this country.”
In a bid to ram home his core message, Johnson plowed a British flag-themed digger, marked “Get Brexit done,” through a polystyrene foam wall with “gridlock” written on it.
Corbyn, 70, was to speak at a rally in Middlesbrough, northeast England, calling today’s vote “the most important election in a generation.”
“My message to all those voters who are still undecided is that you can vote for hope,” Corbyn was to say. “We will put money in your pocket, because you deserve it. The richest and big business will pay for it.”
The veteran socialist is planning a vast program of public service spending and nationalization, plus another referendum on Brexit, pitting a softer version than Johnson’s against staying in the EU.
The Britain Elects poll aggregator put the Conservatives on 43 percent, Labour on 33 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 13 percent, with the Greens and the Brexit Party on 3 percent each.
Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson was to visit Conservative-held seats on the leafy southwest fringes of London, including British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab’s constituency — tipped by YouGov to be on a knife-edge.
“To stop Brexit, we must stop Boris Johnson. We have one more day left to do it,” Swinson said.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, in an open letter branded Johnson the “greatest danger to Scotland of any Tory prime minister in modern times.”
She is seeking a second Scottish independence referendum as the price of supporting Labour in a hung parliament.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese