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ROARING TO GO
‘Three Lions showed us we must fight until the end’…Rishi says he’s ‘channelling England’ with hope of glorious comeback
There are just three days to go before the General Election on Thursday
RISHI Sunak is “channelling England” in the final push before the General Election - and won’t stop until the polls close just like the Three Lions with their last minute winner.
The PM has vowed to “work my socks off” for the country if he stops a Labour supermajority on Thursday.
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And he suggested that Mad Vlad Putin is sitting in Moscow "wanting Sir Keir Starmer to win this election".
After Jude Bellingham's stunning 95th minute goal last night against Slovakia, Sunak is hoping for an eleventh hour boost.
England had been heading for a swift exit out of the Euros before Bellingham's equaliser forced to game to extra time.
During a visit to a pharmaceutical company in the Midlands this morning he issued a rallying call to voters to not “sleepwalk” into a Labour government.
He told The Sun: “Last night the Three Lions showed us how important it is to fight right to the end.
“To work your socks off for your country up to the last minute, even when some say it’s all over.
“And that’s what I’m going to keep doing in this campaign.
“I’m channelling England and I will fight for every last vote.
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“I won’t stop until the polls close because our country’s future is too important.”
He told a crowd earlier :“I love our country for what it has done for my family.
"My grandparents came here with very little and I stand here in front of you two generations later having had the enormous privilege of being both your chancellor and your prime minister.
“I will always work my socks off for you, you saw that during Covid with things like furlough. That’s who I am.”
He added: “A vote for the Conservatives is not just a vote to stop a supermajority but it’s also a vote to make sure that we will fight for you.
“I will fight for you. I will make sure that your voice is heard. That is what this is about and crucially I will keep cutting your taxes.
“When you go to the polls on Thursday you need to remember that this is not a by-election.
“This is a choice about who governs our country for years. I would urge you not to sleepwalk into that.
“Think about what that will mean for you and your family. If these polls are right and Labour are in power with a supermajority, you need to think about what that will mean, a Labour government unchecked, no one to hold them accountable, no one to stand up for them in Parliament.
“If you hand Labour a blank cheque you will not be able to get it back.”
ANALYSIS
By Noa Hoffman, travelling with the PM
With 72 hours until polls open Rishi Sunak is focussing on two core messages.
First, the PM is warning the public that support for Labour is dangerously high for British democracy.
A predicted onslaught of Labour MPs entering the Commons risks creating a “socialist superstate” where Sir Keir Starmer has free rein to drown households in a tidal wave of taxes.
At a pharmaceutical warehouse in Stoke on Trent - the first of four campaign stops today - the PM pushed the Starmer tax message hard.
He listed the home, car and pensions and just some of the places Sir Keir will target his tax raids.
The second message Mr Sunak is honing in on is more personal - that he genuinely cares about Britain and its people.
The PM used the new line “I’ll work my socks off for you because I care about you”.
He painted public service as a personal mission - one he and the Tories hold more genuinely than their opponents.
There’s a slight sense of begging in the second of his pitches to the public.
But with three days until polls open the Conservatives are more open to trying anything - any argument - that could turn their fortunes around.
Turning to defence, the PM said he is "worried about our nation's security under Keir Starmer and a Labour government".
Mr Sunak commented: "You have to have strength to signal to your adversaries that we're not going anywhere, that's why under the Conservatives we're increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
"If Keir Starmer is in charge those plans are going to be cut. That's going to send a signal of weakness to our adversaries and to our allies and crucially will mean that we won't have the funding to continue providing multi-year support to Ukraine.
"That's why I can say we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes to ensure (Vladimir) Putin is not successful there ... Labour can't say that because they are not prioritising investing more in defence."
The country has just three days before voters head to the ballot boxes - with Labour still maintaining their strong lead in the polls.
Speaking on the campaign trail this morning, Sir Keir told supporters that "the last yards are the hardest” as he urged Brits to get out and vote.
"So my track record as a leader is clear. Yes, what we're asking now is for the opportunity to do the same for our country. And yes, we face the same challenge, which is a version of: 'Look, the country is broken, almost nothing is working better than it was when the Tories started. Is it possible to bring around the change that we offer?'
"Yes, it is. We have that determination, that intention. And in five years' time, we will be able to look back and say: 'You are truly better off, your public services are working properly and the economy is working for everyone.'
"I'll be very, very happy to be judged on that record."
Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth this morning called this week “squeaky bum time” - a reference to Sir Alex Ferguson’s description of the last few moments of a football match when the opponents could still steal a goal.
He told Radio 4: “First of all, we’ve got to win an election on Thursday. This is the period now when your co presenter who is a Man United fan would know that Alex Ferguson would describe as the squeaky bum time.
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“There are still people who are making their mind up, weighing up what to do, and my message to them today is don’t switch on radio 4 on Friday morning and hear that Rishi Sunak has won five more years in power.
“The choice in this election is clear, if people want change they’ve got to go out and vote for it.”
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