Boris Johnson returns to the track as UK election campaigns draw to a close

Boris Johnson has thrown his support behind British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the UK election campaign, with pollsters predicting their party could “win a smaller share of the vote than in any previous general election”.

At a rally on Tuesday, Mr Sunak hailed the “united Conservative family” after an appearance by his predecessor Mr Johnson and claimed that just 130,000 voters could help stem his party’s projected losses.

He made the speech after pollsters Survation found that Labour was on course to win more seats than in 1997.

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had earlier dismissed speculation his party was on course for a landslide victory, saying: “Every vote must be earned.”

Speaking at the rally at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London, Mr Sunak said: “Isn’t it great to have our Conservative family together, my friends?”

Mr Sunak added: “A lot of people tend to say that the outcome of this election is a foregone conclusion, but I know that’s not the case.

“It only takes 130,000 people to switch their vote and support us to deny Labour the supermajority it wants. Every vote counts.”

Mr Johnson earlier addressed the crowd of Conservative Party supporters, telling them Mr Starmer would try to “bring in the most left-wing Labour government since the war”.

Referring to “other parties” supposedly “full of Kremlin creeps”, Mr Johnson said: “Don’t let Putinites give birth to Corbynites. Don’t let Putin’s pet parrots give this whole country psittacosis – a disease you get from snuggling with pet parrots, by the way.”

He added: “If you really want higher taxes next week, this year, if you think you have a few thousand pounds to spend, then vote Labour on Thursday. If you want uncontrolled immigration and compulsory wokeness, and pointless kowtowing to Brussels, then go ahead, do me a favour, vote for Starmer.”

“But if you want to protect our democracy and our economy and keep this country strong abroad by spending 2.5% of our GDP on defence, which Labour still refuses to do, then you know what to do, don't you, everyone?

“There is only one thing to do: vote Conservative on Thursday, my friends, and I know you will. I know you will.”

Mr Johnson's appearance came at one of the Conservative Party's final campaign events before polling stations open to voters between 7am and 10pm on Thursday.

Pollsters suggested Sir Keir and Labour were on course for a big victory after ballots were counted in counting halls across the country.

Pollsters at Survation surveyed 34,558 people online and by phone and said a landslide Labour victory of more than 418 seats – the number the party won under Tony Blair 27 years ago – was “99% certain”.

MRP poll data suggests senior Conservatives could lose their seats to Labour, including Commons leader Penny Mordaunt in Portsmouth North, Mr Shapps in Welwyn Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and party chairman Richard Holden in Basildon and Billericay, Essex.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is set to lose the seat of Godalming and Ash in Surrey, and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan her seat of Chichester in Sussex, to the Liberal Democrats.

“It is virtually certain that the Conservative Party will win a lower share of the vote than it has in any previous general election,” pollsters Survation wrote in their analysis.

Techne UK's survey of 5,503 voters for The Independent, also released overnight, gave Labour (40%) a 19-point lead over the Conservatives (21%).

But Sir Keir refused to accept the idea that he would lead his party to a landslide victory on one of his final visits.

He told campaigners: “People say polls predict the future – they don’t predict the future, every vote counts, every vote has to be earned and in places like this it’s probably going to come down to a few hundred votes one way or the other and so the worst thing for people who want change is to think ‘job done’ and ‘we don’t need to vote because there’ll be a majority anyway’.

“It's not a job done.”

Mr Starmer, who is due to visit England, Wales and Scotland on the final day of the campaign, added: “Given that the country is quite broken at the moment, with a lot of things not working, we have a big job to do if we come to serve, and we need a strong mandate for that.

“We need to know that the country really wants this change and that we are all prepared to say that this is the change we want and that gives a very strong mandate to the government to say: 'we asked you to change things, you have to get on with it'.”

In the Liberal Democrat camp, deputy party leader Daisy Cooper described Mr Johnson's intervention as an “insult”.

She said: “Rishi Sunak has reached a new level of desperation, turning to a man who has discredited the office of Prime Minister and lied to the country time and time again.

“It’s time to oust this tired and corrupt Conservative Party and elect Liberal Democrat MPs who will stand up for their communities.”