UK politicians give final push before polls
LONDON : Britain's political leaders were to criss-cross the country on yesterday's final day of general election campaigning as a key poll showed the outcome could be hanging in the balance.
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labouropposition leader Jeremy Corbyn were set for whistle-stop tours of key battleground seats in a frantic last push for votes.
Today's snap general election was called in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock that has gripped Britain ever since the seismic 2016 referendum vote.
After struggling to lead a minority administration, Mr Johnson is hoping to secure a majority government that will enable him to take Britain out of the European Union on Jan 31.
His centre-right Conservatives have been consistently ahead in the opinion polls but YouGov's final survey of the campaign predicted they were set only for a narrow majority - with the race tightening.
The pollsters' seat projection put the Conservatives on course for a relatively slender 28-seat majority in Parliament's 650-member lower House of Commons - down from a comfortable 68 forecast by YouGov on Nov 27.
The new poll forecast that the Conservatives would take 339 seats (up 22 on the last general election in 2017), with the left-wing Labour main opposition on 231 (down 31).
The Scottish Nationalist Party was on course for 41 seats, up six, while the Liberal Democrats are set for 15 seats, up three.
YouGov warned that the final number of Conservative seats could be between 311 - hung parliament territory - and 367.
"The margins are extremely tight and small swings in a small number of seats, perhaps from tactical voting and a continuation of Labour's recent upward trend, means we can't currently rule out a hung Parliament," said Mr Chris Curtis, YouGov's political research manager.- AFP
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