The time for debate is over... The Express says: Vote Tory or hand Labour unchecked power

The clamour of debate and dispute is over. The hour of decision has arrived. As the politicians finally leave the stage after six weeks of campaigning, it is now up to the British people to choose who governs our great country and perhaps more importantly who provides the effective opposition.

Every General Election is important in setting the nation’s course. But no contest in modern times has been more momentous than this one. Its outcome looks likely to transform Britain’s political landscape, causing the biggest realignment in our two-party system for at least a century.

If the opinion polls are remotely accurate, then history could be made on an epic scale today, with Labour achieving by far the greatest landslide since Britain became a democracy.

The only real fight yet to be won now is the battle to ensure there is an effective opposition to properly hold Sir Keir Starmer to account.

Yes, many traditional Tory voters will inevitably be swayed by the noise of Reform but this a time for calm heads and backing for proper conservatism.

It is a time to vote for a rebuilt Tory party that properly pursues the issues that matter to decent, fair-minded Britons.

Lower taxes as part of a well-run economy, less intrusion by the state, a free entrepreneurial spirit, a war against wokery and the denigration of women’s rights and of course proper solutions to the major crises of escalating immigration and NHS waiting lists.

Crime must be properly targeted with more police officers, our defence budget bolstered to ward off Russian threats and our children educated to the highest possible level in all our schools.

This should not be too much to ask of the next Tory leader.

But to get to a position where that person has an effective power base to stand up to Labour there must be a groundswell of loyal support behind the Tories today.

It really is not a day to stay at home in protest but to back the cause of conservatism in the debate for Britain’s future. It could mean the difference between five years of Labour Government or 10.

It really is that stark. According to some analyses, Sir Keir Starmer could enjoy an unprecedented majority of over 300 seats. Previous sweeping triumphs by Labour, like Tony Blair’s victory in 1997 and Clement Attlee’s in 1945, will pale in comparison, as will the Liberals’ massive win in 1906, when the Tories were reduced to a humiliated rump of 156 MPs.

On the BBC yesterday, the senior Conservative Cabinet Minister Mel Stride even predicted that the margin of Sir Keir Starmer’s impending win will be even larger than the record set in October 1931 by the National Government, headed by former Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald, whose overall majority at Westminster was an incredible 492.

The National Government was a coalition formed to deal with the severe economic crisis, and at the election MacDonald, instead of setting out a clear package of proposals, asked for a so-called “Doctor’s Mandate,” to do whatever his Cabinet felt necessary. There is a parallel here with Sir Keir Starmer, who has been wilfully vague about his plans for his office and whose manifesto is an exercise in concealment. In effect, he has been seeking a blank cheque, which, given Labour’s long tradition of profligacy in office, is likely to bounce.

Starmer’s deliberately cautious, opaque approach to policy is a central reason why Labour have failed to capture the imagination of the public. Beyond the single word mantra of “change”, the party has not set out any uplifting vision of Britain’s future. That is also in keeping with Sir Keir’s stodgy, uncharismatic political character, which makes him an awkward performer, as highlighted by the way Rishi Sunak, a much more fluent, less defensive operator, easily outclassed him during their televised debating clashes.

The lack of optimism and inspiration that characterises Labour makes their huge lead in the polls all the more remarkable.

The party stands on the verge of a political earthquake, yet it engenders precious little enthusiasm. On the campaign trail, nothing has better captured the party’s downbeat outlook than the wintry visage and icy demeanour of its election co-ordinator Pat McFadden. The prospect of a Starmer Government is widely regarded with resignation or apprehension rather than excitement. Starmer himself is on the verge of winning the largest Parliamentary majority ever, yet, according to the polls, he will be the most unpopular incoming Prime Minister in history. His current net approval rating stands at a dismal minus 20, whereas Tony Blair in 1997 was on plus 18.

Mind you, Rishi Sunak’s net favourability rating has plunged to minus 51, while the Tory party is almost as unpopular at minus 49. In those statistics lies the explanation for Labour’s imminent crushing win despite the shallowness of support for the party. Labour looks like they will emerge as the dominant force in British politics, not through their own appeal but because of profound hostility towards the Government.

This sense of disillusion has been fed by the Conservatives’ failure to keep their promises to reduce legal immigration, to stop the Channel crossings by small boats, to tackle crime and keep down the costs of living. Under a Conservative Government, woke ideology has spread like wildfire through our civic institutions, the net zero green agenda has become the official orthodoxy , the burden of taxation has reached its highest level since the 1940s and too many of our vital public services like the NHS are mired in permanent crisis.

It is an unimpressive record that has fuelled public anger and the sudden, spectacular rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK movement, which may not win many seats today but will harvest millions of votes from former Tory voters who feel a deep sense of betrayal.

But an election should not be treated as a form of anger management or trauma therapy. Nor is it just a referendum on the record of the Government in the past. At heart, it is the people’s verdict on who should rule us in the immediate future. On that basis, for all their recent failings, the Conservatives are still far better equipped for office than Labour.

The bitter irony of this election is that on all the key issues which are dragging down the Tories – like tax, immigration and public services - Labour’s will worsen the problems.

Do any voters seriously believe that industrial relations will improve in the public sector once Labour repeals anti-strike legislation and hands more power to their paymasters in the trade unions?

Does anyone think that energy prices will fall when green zealot Ed Miliband is enforcing a radical brand of the net zero agenda? How will Labour afford their vast extensions of bureaucracy and their house-building programme without putting up taxes? It is telling that the Tory manifesto sets out £17 billion of tax cuts whereas Labour’s manifesto puts forward £8.5 billion of tax increases. That is just what Labour admit to now, but given their shiftiness, it seems almost certain that there will be a host of other increases, particularly on property, capital gains and inheritance. As Margaret Thatcher once famously, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

In contrast Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak have been successful stewards of the British economy through the storms of Covid, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the global slowdown. Not only has inflation been tamed, but the public finances are been stabilized after the pandemic and Liz Truss’s reckless premiership. This year Britain is expected to grow faster than any other nation in the G7.

“Things can only get better” was Labour’s winning anthem in 1997. For Sir Keir Starmer, things can only get bitter as the ugly realities of Labour rule become apparent. Beyond some organisational tinkering to give the illusion of progress, Labour has no answers for dealing with illegal immigration or reforming the NHS. As the influx of new arrivals swells, social cohesion will be further undermined through Labour’s obsession with toxic identity politics, as reflected in its plans for a new Race Equality act that will involve a further expansion of the diversity industry and yet more ethnic monitoring. The Tories promote real equality by having the most diverse cabinet in history as well as Britain’s first Prime Minister of India heritage. Labour, on the other hand, promote grievance, division and victimhood.

Labour rule will mean more taxes for most of us but a bonanza for quangocrats, pressure groupies, professional Remoaners and woke officials. The rule of law will give way to the rule of lawyers, just as national pride will be eroded by the fashionable emphasis on “decolonisation” and the sins of Empire. Giving back control to Brussels will be one of the themes of Starmer’s rule, starting with negotiations for British membership of the Single Market.

It is not too late to stop this nightmare. The glory of democracy means that the decision still lies with the British people, who should show judgement rather than emotion as they vote today. Whatever the polls say, our fate is not yet sealed.