Party leaders and candidates are today making a last-ditch grab for votes on the final day of campaigning prior to the general election polls opening tomorrow (7 May).
According to the BBC, prime minister David Cameron will pledge today (6 May) to keep Britain “on the road to a brighter future”, while Labour party leader Ed Miliband will promise “a government that will put working people first”.
The prime minister, whose party won 306 seats in 2010, is set to renew his attack on the possibility of a minority Labour government propped up by the Scottish National Party and try to dissuade voters tempted by the Liberal Democrats or Ukip.
However, Mr Miliband has repeatedly ruled out a coalition agreement with the SNP. During the final television set piece of the election campaign on 1 May, Mr Miliband stated that he would not do “any deal” with the party and would rather not be prime minister.
Mr Miliband is looking to improve on the 258 seats Labour won in 2010 under the leadership of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He will say voters face a “clear choice” between “a government that puts working people first, or one that works for the privileged few”.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will offer “stability and decency”. Mr Clegg, whose Lib Dems are battling to keep hold of the 57 seats they won five years ago, will visit marginal Scottish seats under threat from the SNP, telling voters: “You face the biggest political decision of your life.”
Recent polls suggest no party will win enough seats for an outright majority and that even coalition arrangements could prove difficult. Mr Clegg warned there will be a second election this year if either Labour party or the Tories attempt a “messy and unstable” minority administration.
Mr Clegg said that a minority government, relying on the support of either Ukip or the SNP, would be “chaotic and the two main party leaders should not put their own interests ahead of those of the British people”, Sky News reported.
At the end of April, FTAdviser sister publication the Financial Times expressed support for a continuation of the current coalition, calling on voters in seats where the Lib Dems are the incumbents or the main challengers to vote for the party.
donia.o’loughlin@ft.com
