The three party leaders tonight made final TV appeals to voters as they fought to the finish in an eve-of-poll battle. With polling beginning at 7am tomorrow in the General Election, they each appeared live on BBC 1's Six O'Clock news after a hectic day criss-crossing the country to visit marginal seats.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives for a television interview in London today. Photo: Reuters
Opinion polls still show Labour heading for a comfortable victory but Tony Blair insisted the race for No 10 was still close. Mr Blair denied he had been campaigning simply to keep the Conservatives out of government but predicted a "tight" and "tough" contest.
"There's a massive amount positive to vote for. In the end it's a choice - a Conservative government or a Labour government and we believe a Conservative government is a risk," he said.
"I have been around the country in the last few weeks. It's going to be decided in these marginal constituencies and a few hundred votes or a few thousand votes either way will determine the result.
"This thing is tight and it is tough and we have got to fight for every vote. There's no majority assumed at all at the moment.
"We take nothing for granted, absolutely nothing." Tory leader Michael Howard defended his campaign attacks on Mr Blair, after calling him a liar over the war in Iraq and urged people to vote for a "brighter, better tomorrow".
He said: "Character is an issue with this election and trust is an issue. If you look at the promises that were made and broken, people have to ask themselves how they can believe the promises made to them by Mr Blair in this election."
He urged Britain to vote for "change across Britain, turn a new leaf, turn a new chapter of hope and belief". Refusing to back down from the assault on Mr Blair's character he insisted: "I'm a direct sort of person and I tell things as I see them.
But what the people of our country have to focus on tomorrow, and what they will focus on tomorrow is the opportunity to have a brighter, better tomorrow."
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "I think the story of this campaign for millions of people has been the steady rise of the Liberal Democrats. All the evidence is that's accelerating in the closing days while the Conservatives have gone down."
He was scornful of Labour's claim that a vote for the Lib Dems might result in a Tory government. "It's just not going to happen and they are rattled," he added. Their comments came after a hectic day's campaigning in key seats.
"The point about a General Election is it's fought constituency by constituency," Mr Blair told GMTV this morning. "Whatever the opinion polls say, in the key seats a few hundred votes or a few thousand votes can determine it either way.
"We are very much saying to people in those key constituencies, if you have got the Conservatives in second place and you want to keep a Labour MP you have got to get out and vote."