Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak began the last day of campaigning ahead of the opening of polling stations for the national election, according to Reuters.
They warned voters of dire economic consequences if another candidate won. Opinion polls show Starmer’s Labour Party set for a big win that would end 14 years of Conservative rule.
The Labour Party expressed fears that voters would see the result as a foregone conclusion and want to stay home when the polls opened at 06:00 GMT on Thursday. Labour’s campaign coordinator Pat McFadden stated:
Don’t forget the economic chaos for which the British people are still paying the price. If you vote Conservative, nothing will change. If you don’t vote at all or vote for another party, you run the risk of waking up on Friday to Rishi Sunak walking through the door to No. 10 once again.
Starmer’s campaign is built on the promise of “Change,” drawing attention to dissatisfaction with the state of UK public services and falling living standards. Labour promises to fix the sluggish economy and bring stability to the country.
Meanwhile, Sunak is seeking to convince voters that his 20 months in power have put the economy on a growth path after external shocks. His leadership came at a time when the world was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
He claims Starmer will have to levy taxes to implement his programme of change.
The larger the scale of the supermajority, the easier it will be to ram through extreme policies – and the more tax rises will be inflicted on the British people.
Local media suggest that the Prime Minister has changed tactics from seeking victory to trying to minimise the scale of defeat after seeing the Labour Party’s superiority in opinion polls.