Britain’s political leaders made a final push for votes on Wednesday in the final day of campaigning that is expected to return a Labour government to power after 14 years of Conservative rule.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted he was still “working hard” even as one of his closest allies acknowledged the Conservative Party was heading for an “exceptionally heavy” defeat on Thursday.
The Conservatives suffered another last-minute blow when The Sun tabloid, known for backing election winners, switched its vote to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
Polls overwhelmingly predict the Labour Party will win its first general election since 2005 – making Starmer the party’s first prime minister since Gordon Brown left office in 2010.
The result would see Britain’s left-wing tilt return to the centre, after nearly a decade and a half of rule by right-wing Conservative governments, hit first by austerity, then Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis.
Starmer, 61, toured Britain to boost Labour’s support and warn against complacency in the final hours of the election campaign.
“If you want change you have to vote for it,” he told reporters at an event in Carmarthenshire, south Wales, where supporters distributed cakes bearing red ribbons, the colour associated with the party.
“I’m not taking anything for granted,” he said, then flew to Scotland on the same plane that took the England football team to the European Championships in Germany.
Sunak, 44, sought to reiterate his oft-repeated warnings that a Labour government would lead to higher taxes and weaken national security – warnings which Labour has described as a desperate attempt to stay in power.
The Tories have also stepped up warnings to voters to hold off on the possibility of Labour getting a “supermajority”, as Labour fears this will impact voter turnout.
Mel Stride, Sunak’s ally and the work and pensions secretary, said on Wednesday that voters would “regret” handing “unchecked” power to Labour without effective Tory opposition.
– Bigger than Blair? –
“If you look at the polls it’s quite clear that at the moment Labour is heading for an extraordinarily landslide victory, the likes of which has never been seen before in this country,” he told right-wing broadcaster GB News.
But former PM Boris Johnson – who was dumped by his own allies including Sunak in 2022 – made his first major intervention in the campaign on Tuesday and urged supporters not to view the result as a “foregone conclusion”.
Labour has had a consistent 20-point lead over the past two years, as many voters are dissatisfied with the Conservative Party’s performance on a range of issues including public services, immigration and the economy.
Several polls have predicted Labour will win more seats than the record 418 it won in 1997, ending 18 years of Conservative rule under Tony Blair.
Labor needs at least 326 seats to win a majority in the 650-seat parliament.
Voters will head to polling stations from 7 am (0600 GMT), and results are expected late Thursday night at 2230 GMT until Friday morning.
The vote is Britain’s first July election since 1945, when Labour under Clement Attlee defeated World War II leader Winston Churchill’s Conservatives, launching a period of transformational social change.
Attlee’s government created the modern welfare state, including the state-run National Health Service (NHS), which became Britain’s most beloved institution after the royal family.
– In the tray –
Starmer’s “transformation” agenda is not so radical this time and promises careful management of the economy as part of a long-term growth plan, including nursing back damaged public services.
A Labour government will face a range of difficult tasks, from boosting weak growth to ending NHS strikes and repairing relations with Europe after Brexit.
Some voters are hoping for a respite from politics after a chaotic period of five prime ministers, a series of scandals and Tory infighting between centrists and the right that shows no sign of abating.
The Sun called the Conservatives “a divided crowd more interested in fighting amongst themselves than running the country”, and added: “It’s time for a change.”
Starmer – the working-class son of a tool maker and a nurse – has none of the political charisma or popularity of former leader Blair, who led Labour to its final victory in 2005.
But the former human rights lawyer and chief public prosecutor would benefit from a country fed up with the Tories and a sense of national decay.
Hardline Eurosceptic Nigel Farage hopes discontent will see him elected as MP for an eighth time, while the Liberal Democrats are expected to win dozens of seats.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)