British polls set for dramatic finish

Britain’s main party leaders launched a final day of campaigning yesterday with one poll suggesting that almost four in 10 voters in the cliffhanger general election had yet to decide who to back.

And with a succession of opinion polls giving the opposition Conservatives only a narrow lead going into today’s voting, the scene was set for a dramatic finish to what has been the closest election battle for a generation.

The party leaders were to crisscross the country on a frantic last day of campaigning.

David Cameron, whose Conservative party are ahead in opinion polls, embarked on a 24-hour battlebus tour in a bid to fulfil a commitment to visit every part of Britain.

Gordon Brown, fighting to secure a historic fourth term in office for Labour, travelled through northern England and Scotland yesterday.

Cabinet Ministers Ed Balls and Peter Hain signalled Labour supporters should cast their ballots for Nick Clegg’s centrist Liberal Democrats in seats where it was a tight race between the Lib Dems and the Tories. AFP