“The Conservatives have taken a seven-point lead over Labour as voters head to the polls, according to the final survey of the election campaign. If borne out by votes, the result means that Theresa May can expect to return to Downing Street tomorrow with a majority of almost 50 seats, up from 17. The YouGov/Times poll showed a late dip in support for Labour. It put the Tories on 42 per cent, unchanged since Friday, Labour on 35 per cent, down three points, the Liberal Democrats on 10 per cent, up one, and Ukip on 5 per cent, up one. Using the Electoral Calculus website and assuming an even swing, this result combined with the final YouGov Scotland poll would give the Tories a majority of 48.” – The Times (£)
Comment:
Editorial:
>Yesterday:
“Theresa May issued an eve-of-poll rallying call last night to ‘reignite the British spirit’. She called on Labour supporters to back the Tories in the national interest and for the country to get behind her over Brexit. Pledging a nation built on fairness and security, the Prime Minister said she would use the opportunity of leaving the EU to create the greatest meritocracy in the world. And she warned families of a Labour tax bombshell, saying: ‘Jeremy Corbyn will tax you while you work, he’ll tax your garden and he’ll tax your home when you pass it on to your loved ones.’” – Daily Mail
More:
Comment:
Editorial:
“Labour last night refused to back Theresa May’s plan to tear up human rights laws if they get in the way of tackling terrorism. The Prime Minister has pledged to do what it takes to kick out extremists or control their movements with strict curfews and bans on using computers. But Jeremy Corbyn and his frontbench team pledged to resist any attempts to water down human rights laws. Despite such legislation repeatedly frustrating efforts to deport extremists, Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s Brexit spokesman, said there was ‘nothing in the Human Rights Act that gets in the way of effectively tackling terrorism’.” – Daily Mail
Labour:
Comment:
Editorial:
>Yesterday:
“Theresa May today urges “patriotic” Labour supporters to abandon the party and vote Conservative for the sake of the nation’s future as she says: “Your country needs you.” Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph, the Prime Minister asks voters to remember “in the privacy of the polling booth” that they must choose a leader with “the ability to knuckle down and get the job done” on Brexit. She says the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10 is “unthinkable” because: “Rarely can a candidate for high office have been so singularly ill-equipped for the task.” Mrs May also promises to keep people “safe and secure” and to build a more prosperous country post-Brexit in which “our best days lie ahead”.” – Daily Telegraph
Sketches:
Editorial:
>Today: David Davis in Comment: Brexit is the defining issue of our age. The choice today to lead us through it is – May or Corbyn
>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: “Fiercely patriotic” Labour voters should support the Conservatives tomorrow
“As you go into the privacy of the polling booth, remember that the fundamentals have not changed since the day the campaign began. I need your support to strengthen my hand as I negotiate for Britain in Europe. That’s how we will get the best deal for Britain and fulfil the promise of Brexit together. If you strengthen my hand, I can get a Brexit deal that delivers for Britain. Taking back control of our money so that we spend it on our priorities, our borders so that we control immigration and ensure the system serves our national interest, and our laws so that we bring the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain to an end. Building a new, deep and special partnership with the EU based on security and economic cooperation too.” – Daily Telegraph
The campaign:
Editorial:
>Today:
“A handful of constituencies could determine the difference between a steady-as-she-goes recovery and an existential crisis for Britain’s centrist Liberal Democrats when UK voters head to the polls on Thursday. The Lib Dems have consistently flatlined in opinion polls, commanding just 8 per cent of the national vote according to the FT poll tracker. But the pro-EU party, which had just nine MPs before parliament was dissolved, is betting that persistent local campaigning in places like London, Bath and Edinburgh will help it increase its number of seats in Westminster. Nick Clegg, the former party leader who is seeking re-election as an MP in Sheffield Hallam, has argued that the Lib Dems’ message will resonate “as people begin to feel the Brexit squeeze”.” – FT
“The Scottish National party is braced for the loss of up to a dozen Westminster seats in the general election, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats threatening to inflict defeats in its rural heartlands. Senior figures in Nicola Sturgeon’s party predict the Moray seat held by its Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, and the neighbouring seat of Banff and Buchan could fall to the Conservatives if enough voters endorse Brexit and switch sides to block a second independence referendum. The latest opinion polls show the SNP vote has fallen to 41% – from a high of 54% before the 2015 general election – while Scottish Labour’s vote has increased sharply from a low of 13% to 25%, echoing a growth in Labour support in England and Wales.” – The Guardian
Comment:
“Property sales have slumped by almost a fifth in the year since George Osborne’s stamp duty increase on buy- to-let and second homes, official figures show. Land Registry data reveals the tax rises – alongside higher stamp duty for expensive properties – have ‘shattered’ the housing market. Mr Osborne, the then chancellor, introduced a 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge in April last year to cool the booming buy-to-let market amid fears it was fuelling a dangerous property bubble. But property experts and estate agents have complained this has damaged the housing market in wealthier pockets of the country where property values have been propped up by investors buying second homes.” – Daily Mail
“Diane Abbott’s string of poor media performances was due to a long-term illness, a shadow cabinet colleague said yesterday after Jeremy Corbyn withdrew her from the front line. Mr Corbyn began the last day of the election campaign by announcing that Ms Abbott had been replaced as shadow home secretary and was “taking a break from the campaign” on health grounds. A disastrous radio interview, in particular, in which she struggled to cost Labour’s policing policy made her an inevitable target for Tory attacks on the party’s credibility. Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, took her place for a debate on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and a hustings organised by the Evening Standard on Tuesday.” – The Times (£)
Comment:
“Jeremy Corbyn’s top aide would struggle with No10 security vetting due to his potentially dangerous connections to Russia, Whitehall sources claimed last night. An insider revealed that hard-left spin doctor Seamus Milne’s closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin has caused concern as a former head of MI6 said that Corbyn himself would be rejected by vetting to join the security services because of his links to IRA, Hizbollah and Hamas. Mr Milne has been a noted defender of the controversial Russian Premier and the pair were photographed together in Sochi on the Black Sea coast by the official Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta in 2014.” – The Sun
“Today, Britain goes to the polls. And frankly, I’m shocked that no one has stood up and said, unambiguously, how profoundly dangerous it would be for the nation if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister. So let me be clear, the leader of the Labour Party is an old-fashioned international socialist who has forged links with those quite ready to use terror when they haven’t got their way: the IRA, Hizbollah, Hamas. As a result he is completely unfit to govern and Britain would be less safe with him in No 10. I can give an indication of just how serious this is: if Jeremy Corbyn was applying to join any of this country’s security services – MI5, GCHQ or the service I used to run, MI6 – he would not be cleared to do so. He would be rejected by the vetting process.” – Daily Telegraph
More:
>Yesterday: Marc Morrison in Comment: Corbyn is dangerously mistaken – abandoning the Middle East will make us less safe