Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn in last-ditch bid for votes on campaign's last day

Updated

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are making a last push for votes as the General Election campaign enters its final day.

The two main party leaders will criss-cross the country as they seek to galvanise their supporters and win over wavers before polling opens on Thursday.

Mr Corbyn will sweep the length of the country with a series of rallies starting in Scotland and finishing up in London.

Mrs May - who has spent much of the election campaigning in Labour's heartlands of the North and Midlands - will concentrate her final effort on the South East, Eastern England and the Midlands.

The Prime Minister - who has been under pressure over security in the wake of the London Bridge attack - signalled on Tuesday she was ready to tear up some elements of the human rights laws to counter the extremist threat.

She told supporters at a rally in Slough they could include new measures to restrict the movements of suspects who have not been convicted of any offence as well as making it easier to deport foreign suspects.

"If our human rights laws stop us from doing it, we will change the laws so we can do it. If I am elected as prime minister on Thursday, that work begins on Friday," she said.

Senior Conservative sources indicated they were ready to opt out of the relevant provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if new powers were needed.

In interview with The Sun, Mrs May also indicated she was prepared to extend the time suspects can be held without charge to 28 days after it was reduced to 14 days in 2011 under the coalition.

"When we reduced it to 14 days, we actually allowed for legislation to enable it to be at 28 days," she said.

"We said there may be circumstances where it is necessary to do this. I will listen to what they (the police) think is necessary for us to do."

The move was condemned by the opposition parties, with Lib Dem leader Tim Farron accusing her of "simply posturing", having been prepared to offer up the police for "cut after cut" when she was home secretary.

"It might give the appearance of action, but what the security services lack is not more power, but more resources," he said.

Mr Corbyn said the response to the terror attacks was to invest in the police and security services while protecting democratic values, including the Human Rights Act.

"We will always keep the law under review, but don't believe would-be terrorists and suicide bombers will be deterred by longer sentences or restricting our rights at home," he said.

On Tuesday the Labour leader addressed a 6,000-strong crowd at a starred-studded rally in Birmingham featuring comedian Steve Coogan and the band Clean Bandit.

Despite Labour continuing to trail to the Conservatives in the polls - even though the gap has narrowed since the start of the campaign - an upbeat Mr Corbyn insisted they remain on course for victory.

"We can do something very special on Thursday. We can have a future of hope for the many not the few," he said in an interview with the Daily Mirror. "We are going to win."

Mr Farron, who has seen the Lib Dems squeezed in the polls by the two larger parties, will use his final rally in Oxford to appeal to people to vote tactically to keep out the Tories - including Conservative supporters concerned about their plans for Brexit and for social care.

"If you are a Conservative supporter but those things worry you, then don't do it. Vote for someone who will stand up for you and your family instead," he will say.

"If you are a Labour supporter who lives somewhere where the only way of beating the Conservative candidate is a Liberal Democrat, then I need you to lend me your vote."

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