July 4: Sunak’s close ally predicts landslide Labour victory

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted he was still “fighting hard” despite all indications pointing to a Labour party win, with one of his closest allies even believing that the Tories were heading for an “extraordinary landslide” defeat on Thursday, July 4.

Britain’s political bigwigs made a last-ditch attempt to get votes on Wednesday, July 3, on the last day of an election campaign that hoped to return a Labour government after 14 years of Conservative rule.

The Conservatives suffered a further blow at the 11th hour when The Sun, famous for backing election winners, endorsed Keir Starmer’s Labour party.

Polls overwhelmingly predict that Labour will win its first general election since 2005 — making Starmer the party’s first prime minister since Gordon Brown left office in 2010.

That outcome would see Britain swing leftwards back to the centre ground after almost a decade and a half of right-wing Conservative governments, dominated first by austerity, then Brexit and a cost-of-living crisis.

Starmer tried his best to shore up Labour support and warn against complacency in the campaign’s final hours.

“If you want change, you have to vote for it,” he told reporters at an event in Carmarthenshire, south Wales, where supporters handed out cakes with red ribbons, the color associated with the party.

“I’m not taking anything for granted,” he added, before flying to Scotland on the same plane that took the England football team to the European Championships in Germany.

Sunak, 44, sought to hammer home his oft-repeated warnings that a Labour government would mean tax rises and weaker national security — claims Labour has branded as a desperate attempt to cling to power.

The Tories also stepped up their warnings to voters to stop the prospect of Labour winning a “supermajority”, which Labour fears is intended to hit turnout.

Sunak ally Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, said Wednesday the electorate would “regret” handing Labour “untrammelled” power without an effective Tory opposition.