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Rex
UK News

Political leaders rushing to final election rallies

by Desmond Busteed

More than half of those questioned said campaigning over the last six weeks had not changed their mind on who to vote for.

Polling expert Professor Michael Thrasher believes both Labour and the Conservatives seem not to have picked up much extra support: "They really been in a very tight narrow band, unable to have a leave; one over the other.

"So it's nip and tuck and indeed some polsters are saying it's going to be a dead heat"

On Wednesday David Cameron met shift workers during a through-the-night campaign bus trip, before visiting a farm in Brecon.

He later stopped to see construction work at Chester Zoo, before moving on to a housing development in Lancaster, with the latest poll suggesting the Tories have taken a narrow 3% lead over Labour.

Colin Bloom from the Conservative Christian Fellowship told Premier's News Hour he was still remaining confident that the Tories could win: "I am taking nothing for granted, I'm not trying to be too complacent but I am resonably satified that the conservatives have done enough.

"I think the Conservatives will get a majority, it's only 23 seats to what they've already got; I think that's entirely doable."

Campaigning across Lancashire and Yorkshire, Labour leader Ed Miliband has insisted he is "not countenancing defeat" and warned another coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats posed a "huge risk" to working families.

Andy Flanagan, director of Christians on the Left, told Premier's News Hour that he believe Labour was winning the campaign on the ground: "The campaigning I've been involved in has been really encouraging... We were out and about in York Central yesterday and we bumped into a couple of postmen who'd been complaining to us that their postbags were laden down with all the post that'd been sent out by the Conservative Party.

"I think across the country you see that happening, it's actual people power, getting the effort out for the Labour Party, whereas actually there's not so much of that foot-soldier thing happening with the Conservative Party, I think there's a lot more money spent just posting things around...

"So I've seen a real energy out there I think. You can't run away from the polls, it looks incredibly tight, so that's why even more so I think a lot of people are engaged this time."

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who is completing the second half of a 1,000-mile campaign tour from Land's End to John O'Groats, said voters faced "the biggest political decision of their lives".

Claire Mathys, director of the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum, told Premier that she expected the Liberal Democrats to fare better than expected: "I think we could well do - because the reality as we look across how the election polling is going so far when it's done on a constituency seat basis.

"What we see is that it's very clear that no party is going to win a majority in this election - and that means that the Scottish National Party or the Liberal Democrats will be holding the balance of power in the next government.

"And the Liberal Democrats are the moderate centre ground party that would be really most peoples - according to the poles - preferred choice as a coalition partner.

"So whether you're on the left or the right most people said they'd rather have the Liberal Democrats in coalition than the SNP propping up a minority Labour government."

Polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday, and are usually public buildings like schools or local halls.

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