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.
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