Labour leader Keir Starmer on Thursday described Rishi Sunak’s last-ditch effort to sow fear about the opposition party winning a landslide in Britain’s election as “desperate”, as the prime minister’s campaign grows increasingly frantic as he seeks to avert a crushing defeat for the Conservatives.
Two days before the vote, PM Sunak stepped up his attacks on Labour and warned that ordinary Conservative voters staying at home could result in Starmer winning a parliamentary majority of more than 200 seats, according to current opinion polls. Sunak said this would mean the incoming government would have a “blank cheque” to do whatever it wanted.
“I don’t want people to sleepwalk into this situation.”
Rishi Sunak told #bbcbreakfast With less than 48 hours to go before voting begins in the general election, he worries about a ‘Labour supermajority’ pic.twitter.com/8MweIKxAVt
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) July 2, 2024
While Mr Sunak has given up hope of victory, in the past two weeks the Tories have begun issuing warnings about the scale of Labour’s win – an apparent concession that the ruling party is not going to win, as a series of polls using seat-by-seat analysis have predicted the opposition is heading for victory on a historic scale. In total, 10 of the 11 so-called MRP polls predict Labour will win more seats than Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997.
The poll – and Labour’s stubborn 20-point lead that hasn’t budged a bit during the campaign – highlights how little the Tories’ early messaging about sticking with Sunak’s plan has done to impress voters. Now the final days of the campaign appear to be a damage-limitation exercise, aimed at persuading former Tory supporters who are considering either not voting or backing Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party to turn up on Thursday and vote Conservative.
They have 48 hours to halt Starmer’s majority. pic.twitter.com/ecuOiol5rt
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 2, 2024
In a video on Sunak’s X social media account, the Tory campaign suggested a Labour government would crash the FTSE 100 and cause energy blackouts. Yet Bloomberg’s reporting suggests investors are increasingly viewing the UK as a safe haven because of the political and economic stability a change of government will bring.
On Tuesday the Tories also attacked Starmer over his comments to Virgin Radio that he blocks appointments after 6pm on Fridays to spend time with his family. Starmer’s wife comes from a Jewish family and the Labour leader has spoken about the importance of Friday evenings.
Still, leading Tories hit out at Starmer’s comments. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps accused him of planning to become a “part-time prime minister”, while minister Maria Caulfield told broadcasters Starmer wanted to work a four-day week – something the Labour leader did not say.
“It’s really desperate. My family is very important to me, as it will be to everybody who watches this,” Starmer told reporters on his campaign tour. “It’s now a growing desperation bordering on hysteria.”
The Conservatives’ attacks have been widely criticised by leaders of Britain’s Jewish community, despite Sunak saying just two weeks ago that he praised Starmer for taking time out for his family.
“He does a really good job of balancing family life and work life and making sure he prioritises that and makes time for it,” Mr Sunak told LBC radio.
Asked by Bloomberg if he supported his campaign’s comments alleging that Starmer would not be able to protect the country because he would finish work at 6pm, Mr Sunak replied: “I am concerned about the security of our country under Keir Starmer and I have deep concerns about that.”
Yet the overall atmosphere is such that there is no solution left to reduce the gap with the Labor Party in the election campaign.
Tory leaflets warn of “French-style union laws,” a national road charge and more money spent on welfare benefits. This is while Labour has said changes to rights to work will be made in communication with business, promised to keep people in work by taking them off benefits, and announced no plans to introduce a national pay-per-mile charge on roads.
Speaking on the BBC, the Prime Minister warned that if Labour wins “illegal migrants will be on the streets” and that asylum seekers are “queuing up” in Calais, in northern France, waiting for a Starmer government before attempting to cross the English Channel in small boats. This comes as the number of people crossing the Channel by the end of June reached a record high for the first six months of the year.
Labour has denied any plans to raise taxes, insisting it would impose no taxes on “working people” and categorically rejected increases in income tax, National Insurance payroll tax, corporation tax and value-added tax. The party has also accused Mr Sunak of lying to the public about his policies on borders and his future prime ministerial work ethic.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said on social media: “The stench of their lies and hypocrisy is overwhelming.”
There are two days left until the election ends and the Labour Party is laying out its vision for our country’s future.
Conservatives are slinging mud.
They can’t tell the truth about their own record, so they lie about Labor’s plans.
It is time to choose change and end the circus going on in Downing Street. pic.twitter.com/I5GpKNzt2d
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) July 2, 2024
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
