On eve of election, May tries to put focus back on Brexit

British politicians made their final pitches to voters on Wednesday, the eve of an election that will define Britain’s approach to leaving the EU but has been overshadowed by two deadly attacks in as many weeks. British Prime Minister Theresa May unexpectedly called the election seven weeks ago, seeking to boost her parliamentary majority ahead of the start of Brexit negotiations and to win more time to deal with the impact of the divorce from the European Union. But the campaign has seen a series of unexpected twists, including the bloodiest militant attack in Britain since 2005 and the shrinking of May’s once-commanding poll lead of more than 20% points over the opposition Labour Party. The attacks by IS in Manchester and London threw the spotlight onto security. And May was forced to backtrack dramatically on a social care policy pledge, in a move pundits said was unprecedented in British election campaign history. On the eve of the parliamentary vote, May tried to bring the campaign back to Brexit. May and her husband Philip started the day with a visit to a London meat market, where they were greeted with jeers of “Vote Labour”. Later in the morning she enjoyed a warmer reception 110km away at a bowls club in Southampton, while Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader, started the day in the Scottish city of Glasgow. May has repeatedly said only she can deliver the right Brexit deal for Britain and that her opponents would lead its $2.5tn economy to ruin in the negotiations with the EU. Pollsters expect May to win a majority. But if she fails to surpass handsomely the 12-seat majority her predecessor David Cameron won in 2015, her electoral gamble will have failed and her authority will be undermined both inside her Conservative Party and at talks with the 27 other EU leaders.‘Give hope a chance’Britain’s top-selling newspaper The Sun urged its readers to back the Conservatives, nicknamed the Tories. “The Tories alone are committed to seeing Brexit through in full,” the Sun said in a full-page editorial. The right-wing Daily Mail said a vote for May was a “vote to save Britain”. But opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran leftist once written off by many as a no-hoper leading his party to its worst election defeat, has run a strong campaign. The Daily Mirror urged voters to “give hope a chance” and back him in Thursday’s vote. “The choice is quite simple. Five more years of a Tory government, five more years of austerity, five more years of cuts. Or something different,” Corbyn told supporters in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, to cheers and applause.