British party leaders pushed through the final moments of their campaign blitz on Wednesday to win over votes as the December 12 general election neared.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has traveled to the heartlands of Brexit Britain in a bid to secure the parliamentary majority he needs to take the country out of the European Union, was doorstepping constituents in Essex.
Johnson spoke to constituents and hammered down signs bearing his campaign slogan ‘Get Brexit Done’. The prime minister even clambered onto a wall fence at one point with photographers cheering him on.
His main rival, the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn, has focused on promises of sweeping economic steps to benefit struggling Britons. Labour has pledged to begin delivering its plans to end public spending cuts and begin nationalising industries within the first year of taking office.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Bedford, Corbyn took a jab at Johnson who earlier in the day was accused of avoiding a television interview by retreating into a fridge.
“The Conservative Party says our manifesto is too radical,” Corbyn told a crowd of chanting supporters. “I don’t have to go and hide in a fridge when somebody comes to ask me a question.”
Corbyn also imitated Johnson’s mannerism, accusing the prime minister of being “loose with the facts” in his leadership.
Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson joined volunteers at a phone bank in the capital, while the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon met with constituents in a shop where she helped sort the display.
YouGov, which accurately predicted the outcome of the last election two years ago with an elaborate survey that estimates the outcome in individual constituencies, cut its forecast for Johnson’s likely parliamentary majority by more than half to 28 seats. Two weeks ago it had forecast a majority of 68.
Possible outcomes range from a landslide victory for Johnson to a hung parliament with no party in control, YouGov said, given the possibility of “tactical voting” in dozens of closely fought constituencies to deny a Conservative victory.
