Britain on Wednesday hit the final day of campaigning for a general election darkened by jihadist attacks in two cities, leaving forecasters struggling to predict an outcome on polling day. Eight people are now confirmed to have died in Saturday's attack in London, after police announced a body had been recovered from the River Thames in the search for a missing Frenchman.
A 30-year-old man was arrested in east London earlier Wednesday in connection with the attack, which also left 48 people injured. Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May and main opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were criss-crossing the country on Wednesday, targeting urban areas whose votes could be crucial.
May aimed at the high-population English Midlands in her final dash, while Corbyn was to attend six rallies in England, Scotland and Wales, stretching from Glasgow to London, in a gruelling last-day marathon. The prime minister had stunned Britain on April 18 when she announced a snap election, hoping to transform a massive opinion-poll lead into an equally huge majority in the House of Commons where she holds a slim 17-seat advantage in the 650-member legislature.
But the political ground began to shift under her feet, moving from EU membership - May's strongest card - to domestic policy and her own record on security, both of them favouring Corbyn. Opinion polls - hampered by a poor reputation for reliability - predict a May win. But depending on polling methodology, victory could range from around 50 seats, to a loss of seats and even no majority at all.
May is fighting to revive her message that she is a "strong and stable" leader compared with Corbyn, able to fight Britain's corner in Brussels, where formal Brexit talks are due to start on June 19. "Get those negotiations wrong and the consequences will be dire," May said Wednesday. Corbyn, a veteran socialist, made an eve-of-voting pitch on the National Health Service (NHS), a beloved institution.
"The Conservatives have spent the last seven years running down our NHS, our proudest national institution. Our NHS cannot afford five more years of underfunding, understaffing and privatisation," he said. Despite being seen as an unlikely leader - one who has faced off a rebellion by his own MPs - Corbyn has gained momentum during the election campaign and regularly attracts big crowds to his rallies.
Labour gained a boost following the May 18 release of the Conservatives' manifesto, outlining elderly care costs which the tabloids dubbed the "dementia tax". The pledge hit the party's core supporters and May was forced to backtrack on capping the costs, prompting further criticism that she was unreliable.
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