Parties' final pleas to voters on last day of election campaign
ITV News correspondents report live around the UK as party leaders plead their final case ahead of polling day
Keir Starmer said that Labour has been doing "a lot of preparation" for the scenario in which they receive a majority in the General Election and form a government.
The Labour leader was cautious about predicting the election outcome and emphasised that he and the shadow cabinet have been preparing “hard”.
He said that the entire party must hit the ground running from day one if they do form the next government.
“I've said to the shadow cabinet I don't want you having a phone call or a meeting the day after the election that you could have had six months before the election, so I'm confident that we'll be ready."
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The political parties hit the road for the final time on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to secure votes ahead of the UK General Election.
After six weeks of twists and turns, heated debates and ambitious stunts, leaders across the political spectrum are touring the country to make their closing arguments.
Rishi Sunak has made his final comments saying he does not believe that the election is a "forgone conclusion," even though the Tories are still 20 points behind Labour in the polls.
Elsewhere, it's surf's up for Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey on the Cornish coast and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage finished where he started - on Clacton Pier.
But as the campaigns culminate, speculative forecasts for the election result appear to have dominated the party battleground.
Tories warn of Labour 'supermajority', but Starmer levels it as 'voter suppression'
Conservative minister Mel Stride effectively conceded defeat for his party and said he expects Labour to win a "huge, huge majority".
It comes after former prime minister Boris Johnson made a surprise speech at a Tory rally on Tuesday night in an effort to spur a final bout of momentum.
Voicing support for Sunak, he said: “There’s only one thing to do – vote Conservative on Thursday, my friends, and I know you will. I know you will.”
But former home secretary Suella Braverman, a potential contender for the Tory leadership if Sunak quits, wrote in the Telegraph: “One needs to read the writing on the wall: it’s over, and we need to prepare for the reality and frustration of opposition.”
Asked whether he agrees with Johnson, that it is not “too late”, or Braverman, that it is effectively “over”, Stride told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “What I’m saying is very clear, which is that all the polls are pointing to one very clear conclusion tomorrow: a Labour government with a huge, huge majority.
“But what I’m also saying – and this is where I agree with Boris – is that it is not too late to make sure that we have an opposition in there, Conservative MPs who are able to hold that government to account.”
With the Conservatives trailing Labour by an estimated 19 points in the polls, the bitterness between rival parties shows no signs of slowing down.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted a predicted Tory defeat isn't going to stop him in his campaign efforts and is expected to use his day to stop an "unchecked" Labour "supermajority".
Rishi Sunak tells ITV's Good Morning Britain that the result of the election is not a foregone conclusion as the final day of campaign gets underway
Meanwhile, Keir Starmer said Tory warnings on Labour being likely to win amount to “voter suppression”.
“I think the Tories have run a very negative campaign and they’re failing to answer the question of what positive change they bring for the country.”
Pressed further, Starmer said: “It’s more of the same, it’s really voter suppression, it’s trying to get people to stay at home rather than to go out and vote.
“I say if you want change, you have to vote for it. I want people to be part of the change.”
He added he is “not taking anything for granted”.
Polling stations are set to open their doors from 7am until 10pm on Thursday for people to vote for the MP they want to serve their constituency.
The counting of votes will start immediately after - and by Friday, the political direction of the UK across the next four years will have been decided.
But with the 24-hour countdown on, what is on the agenda for each political party on Election Eve?
Conservatives
After a late-night rally in Chelsea and support from his predecessor, Sunak ended his campaign trail in the South East, visiting a Hampshire school and other locations.
The prime minister also appeared on This Morning, in a segment following 'Britain's most tattooed mum'.
During the interview, Sunak was questioned over what tattoo he would get - to which the Conservative leader said he would get the Southampton FC badge inked on his arm - and quizzed over his favourite meal - which he confirmed is "sandwiches".
Sunak also tried to play down Stride's comments about a Labour win, with the prime minister claiming "he wasn't quite saying that".
"Mel was doing was warning of what a very large Labour majority, unchecked, would mean for people.”
He added: “I’m fighting hard for every vote. Here’s what I’d say, actually, here’s what I’d say."
Sunak ended his campaign doorknocking in Hamble Valley in Hampshire where he had a mostly warm reception from the people he met.
Rishi Sunak has so far held events in 54 different constituencies since the first full day of the election campaign on May 23, according to data compiled by the PA news agency.
Labour
In a marathon final leg of his tour, Starmer has spoken to voters in England, Scotland and Wales.
“We’re out in constituencies where we haven’t necessarily won before, because we think that many people are disillusioned with what they’ve seen in the last 14 years,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
He kicked off his final campaigning blitz with a stump speech alongside the embattled First Minister of Wales.
The Labour leader was introduced by Vaughan Gething for an appearance in Caerfyrddin in South Wales.
“I’ve been saying throughout this campaign that if they are returned on Friday for five more years of the Tories we won’t get anything different, it will be the same," Starmer began.
He added: “They’ve evidenced it in the campaign because Rishi Sunak started by campaigning with David Cameron. Then he borrowed Liz Truss’s programme and put it in his manifesto of unfunded tax cuts. And last night they wheeled out Boris Johnson."
Speaking in Glasgow also on Wednesday he said the route to a Labour government was through Scotland taking aim at the SNP.
He said: "And I want voters in Scotland – not to send a message, the SNP say, the most important election for I don’t know how long, and they say what? Send a message.
“Send someone, an SNP MP, to sit on the opposition benches for this important period of history, and say a few things across the aisle. I don’t want Scotland to send a message, I want Scotland to send a government.”
By the end of Wednesday, Starmer is due to have visited 57 different seats during the campaign, including 43 being defended by the Conservatives;
Liberal Democrats
Ed Davey has hit the road again to round off his stunt-packed campaign.
There was no time to slip into a dry robe and warm up after surf lessons on the Cornish coast because party chiefs had several stops lined up on the Liberal Democrats leader's final pre-vote tour of southern England.
He vowed to knock down the Conservatives’ Blue Wall as he embarked on his latest stunt - driving a large yellow tractor.
During a visit to Chippenham in Wiltshire, Davey did circuits of a field in a JCB tractor alongside parliamentary candidate Sarah Gibson.
Speaking afterwards, he said: “We’ve talked about the Blue Wall in the Home Counties, we’ve talked about the Blue Wall in the West Country and this is the Blue Wall across rural Britain.
“And the yellow tractor is coming for it.”
Davey said driving the tractor highlighted his party’s commitment to agricultural communities and farming, and that the Lib Dems are the challengers to the Tories in rural Britain.
The Lib Dem leader will have clocked up 49 different constituencies, of which 41 are Tory defences, on his campaign trail.
SNP
Scottish First Minister John Swinney has told voters some seats will be won or lost “by only a handful of votes”.
In his final pitch, he said: “Be certain about one thing – your vote will matter. It could make all the difference.”
The party has said it will seek negotiations for another referendum on independence if it wins a majority of seats in Scotland, but the first minister has repeatedly ducked questions on what will happen if the SNP fails in its goal.
“We’re going to campaign to win,” he said.
“We’ll look at all the issues that are thrown up by the election after the election.”
The SNP and Scottish Labour are neck-and-neck in the polls ahead of election day, ITV News Correspondent Peter Smith reports
Reform UK
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage ended his campaign in Clacton.
He said he believed "British politics will break up in the next five years" and the electoral system will not be recognisable "a few years down the road".
He also criticised Johnson's appearance on the campaign trail as "absolutely irrelevant" and said he was the reason the Conservatives have the problems that they do.
Survation pollsters have said Clacton is the only constituency where Reform UK has a confident lead, but they could take 16 seats at an “upper end” estimate.
Green
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer was campaigning in Bristol Central, one of several marginal seats that the party has focused on.
Ms Denyer said: “Our aim is to win at least four Green MPs and (we) are within touching distance of doing just that."
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