Rishi Sunak vowed to fight until the end and defend the Tories’ record as he implored voters to ‘save Britain from the danger of a Labour government’ in his last campaign speech before polls open tomorrow.
The Prime Minister rounded off his appeal to voters with a ‘low key’ delivery in Hampshire today – but took time to stress the result of the election was no ‘foregone conclusion’.
With Labour pegged to receive an historic majority, Sunak reminded the undecided of what he deemed Tory successes in education and defence, recovery after the 2008 financial crisis and the response to Covid-19.
With the Tories trailing Labour by some margin in recent polls, Sunak was careful to acknowledge ‘frustrations’ with his party – but urged supporters to ‘fight for our vision of Britain’ and not ‘sleepwalk’ into a Labour government.
‘We have to recognise that… people do have a hesitation about giving us their support again. And I understand that. I’m not blind to the fact it’s been a difficult few years for the country with Covid, the war in Ukraine and bills.
‘I understand people’s frustrations with me, with our party, but I say this: tomorrow’s vote is not a byelection, it’s not a referendum about the past, it’s a choice about the future of our country, a choice that is going to have severe consequences for each and every family if we get that choice wrong.’
Rishi Sunak gestures during his final rally at Romsey Rugby Football Club in his last campaign speech in Hampshire before polls open tomorrow
Rishi Sunak embraces his wife, Akshata Murty, in Hampshire the day before polls open
Surrounded by family, the Prime Minister told his audience: ‘We have we have urgent work here, my friends, because at this point we only have a day left to save Britain from the danger of a Labour government.
‘A Labour government that might have a super majority to hike up everyone’s taxes by thousands of pounds, to shift our politics to the Left, to make sure we do absolutely nothing to clamp down on illegal migration, to reverse the cost-saving net zero plans that we put in place, to tax the state pension for the first time in our country’s history, and to rig the rules so they stay in power for a decade.’
Elections are required to be held at least every five years. Labour has not voiced plans to change this. Starmer has said his party is ‘not making any changes’ to the First Past the Post system.
Still, Sunak was steadfast in his determination to recoup votes and upset what he called a potential Labour ‘supermajority’.
‘I know we are at a rugby club, but if being a Southampton fan teaches you anything it is that the game isn’t over until the final whistle goes – and that there’s fight in the underdog,’ he said late on Wednesday.
Labour is on course to win a large majority, according to pollsters. The final YouGov Multi-Level Regression and Post Stratification (MRP) poll suggested a ‘crushing defeat’ was looming for the Conservatives, expected to take just 22 per cent of the vote.
Labour, meanwhile, were expected to get 39 per cent, Reform UK 15 per cent, the Liberal Democrats 12 per cent and 7 per cent for the Greens.
For Labour, that would be the biggest margin for any party in the modern era of the Houses of Parliament since the reform of the electoral laws in 1832.
A Survation poll of more than 30,000 voters put the contest for official opposition much closer between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, suggesting the former could expect as few as 64 seats – with the Lib Dems predicted to win 61.
The London-based research company judged the parties were now ‘in a close race to form the official Opposition’.
The Economist yesterday assessed ‘voters would have to engage in relentlessly cynical tactics’ for this to pass, however, giving the party a 13.4 per cent chance of overtaking the Tories, based on their own modelling.
This would require voters tactically vote Lib Dem to displace Tories from their current seats, and for Reform’s share to ‘be as large as polls suggest’, splitting the vote.
Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, currently facing backlash over racist comments allegedly made by a party volunteer, and candidates’ attacks on the Royal Family, is currently on course to win a more modest seven seats, according to Survation.
As Sunak spoke to activists in Hampshire, Keir Starmer addressed voters in Redditch, urging against complacency and reminding voters: ‘If you want change, you have to vote for it.’
Urging it was time to ‘rebuild our country’ with a reformed Labour government, he echoed Sunak’s rhetoric and said it would be ‘tight’ in many constituencies, and that if people think it’s ‘job done’ and don’t vote, they’ll ‘wake up to five more years of Tory government’.
Sunak acknowledged ‘frustrations’ but urged voters to consider the alternatives
Labour leader Keir Starmer speaks at a general election campaign event in Redditch
Starmer urged voters not to be complacent by missing the opportunity to vote tomorrow
The Liberal Democrat leader left his final general election speech in a pink Cadillac today, concluding an unorthodox bid for votes and screentime in the run up to the election.
Earlier today, Ed Davey was seen racing a yellow JCB tractor in Wiltshire as he accused Rishi Sunak of employing ‘desperate’ and ‘weird’ tactics in ‘reminding people of the failures… of Boris Johnson, the failures of Liz Truss, of Rishi Sunak’.
The comments followed Boris Johnson’s late appearance to back Sunak’s campaign at a rally in central London.
Johnson attacked Labour’s ‘uncontrolled immigration’ and ‘mandatory wokery’ while assuring voting Conservative was the way to ‘protect our democracy and our economy and keep this country strong abroad’.
He had choice words for Reform, too, branding Farage a ‘Kremlin crawler’ for his praise of Vladimir Putin’s skills as a political operator.
On the eve of the general election, Farage told an audience at Clacton Pier that Johnson was a ‘busted flush, a hypocrite and a liar’.
