Corbyn: Elect a government of hope to shock the establishment

Jeremy Corbyn is urging undecided voters to vote Labour on Thursday and elect a “government of hope” that would send shock waves through the Establishment.

The Labour leader has said that this is the “most important” polling day in a generation, taking place at a critical juncture in British politics.

And he promises that, as prime minister, he would bring Britain into the new decade by working to undo the 10 years of damage that successive Conservative-led governments have inflicted on Britain.

In his final speech of the general election campaign at a rally in east London last night, Mr. Corbyn was set to say: “We stand at a fork in the road. The choice is facing you, the people of this country. Tomorrow is truly historic.

“The Establishment doesn’t want Labour to win. They don’t want a Labour government on the side of the people, shaking up how this country is run. You can shock the Establishment, by voting for hope.

“When Labour wins, the nurse wins, the pensioner wins, the student wins, the office worker wins, the engineer wins. We all win.”

He started his last day of campaigning today in Glasgow, where crowds gathered at Govan Cross from about 7 a.m. People cheered, and locals were seen hanging out of their windows to catch a glimpse of the prospective prime minister.

Corbyn said: “Our party has suffered the most unbelievable levels of abuse from some of the media and the right of British politics.

“When you wake up on Friday morning and this government has been defeated — the politics of despair and division — you can have hope for the future that will be a great early Christmas present for everyone. The only way of getting rid of a Tory government is by voting Labour,” he said.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said that only Corbyn as prime minister would see a redistribution of the wealth and power in Britain.

At a rally in Middlesbrough, Corbyn pledged to undo a decade of damage by boosting pay for 12 million of the lowest-earning workers and by lowering living costs — including through nationalizing utilities and building more social housing.

He also vowed to “save the NHS” by ending privatization, bring about pension justice for women born in the 1950s, introduce free care for pensioners and end tuition fees.

“And Labour will get Brexit sorted — we will secure a good deal for working people and give you the final say,” he said.

Corbyn also poked fun at PM Boris Johnson for hiding in a walk-in fridge while being pursued by ITV’s Good Morning Britain reporter Jonathan Swain during a milkround stunt in West Yorkshire today.

In a clip of the incident, the PM’s press secretary Robert Oxley can be heard saying “oh for fuck’s sake” when Swain asks Johnson why he has refused to appear on the show for an interview. Even rightwinger Piers Morgan, one of the hosts of the daytime show, accused Johnson of “cowardice” after the incident.

Corbyn told hundreds of supporters standing in Middlesbrough: “I’ve not come here to deliver milk, or to hide in a fridge. I’ve come here with a message of hope.”

On his way back to the capital, Corbyn made a series of stops to meet Labour parliamentary candidates in several constituencies before ending the evening with his final rally in east London.

As Johnson repeatedly refused to be interviewed, opinion surveys showed that the gap between Tories and Labour was narrowing.

The EU also delivered a blow to Mr. Johnson’s main election pledge that he would “get Brexit done,” when a recording of its chief negotiator Michel Barnier saying that the withdrawal would not be completed by 2021 was leaked today.

Johnson is defending the smallest majority of any sitting PM since 1924. His majority in Uxbridge and South Ruislip is 5,034.