Britons began voting earlier today in a tight election that could yield a weak government and may potentially push the world’s fifth-largest economy a step closer to leaving the European Union.
Final opinion polls showed Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives and Ed Miliband’s opposition Labour Party neck to neck, indicating neither will win enough seats for an outright majority in the 650-seat parliament.
“This race is going to be the closest we have ever seen,” Miliband told supporters in Pendle, northern England, on the eve of the vote. “It is going to go down to the wire.”
Cameron said only his Conservatives could deliver strong, stable government: “All other options will end in chaos.”
The Conservatives portray themselves as the party of jobs and economic recovery, promising to reduce income tax for 30 million people while forcing through further spending cuts to eliminate a budget deficit still running at 5 per cent of GDP.
Labour says it would cut the deficit each year, raise income tax for the highest 1 per cent of earners and defend the interests of hard-pressed working families and the treasured but financially stretched National Health Service.
If neither wins an overall majority, talks will begin on Friday with smaller parties in a race to strike deals.
Of seven opinion polls released on the last day before voting, three showed the two main parties tied. Three put the Conservatives ahead by a single percentage point, and one gave Labour a two-point lead.
Scottish nationalists, who lost an independence referendum last September, are likely to win the lion’s share of seats in Scotland, capturing dozens from Labour, and making Miliband’s chances of winning an overall majority much slimmer.
If he wins, Cameron has promised an in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union by the end of 2017, a prospect likely to damage the City of London’s standing as a global financial centre and unsettle markets.
Polls opened at 0600 GMT for the United Kingdom’s 48 million voters and close at 2100 GMT. An exit poll will be published as soon as polls close, and most results are expected as soon as the early hours tomorrow.
