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2013 elections: Final push for votes ahead of council polls in England and Wales 2013 elections: Don't waste vote on UKIP, says William Hague
(about 11 hours later)
Party leaders will make a final push for votes on Wednesday in the last day of campaigning for council elections in England and Wales. William Hague has urged Tory supporters not to "waste" their vote on UKIP as campaigning for council elections in England Wales enters its final day.
Voters go to the polls on Thursday to elect 27 county councils in England and seven unitary authorities, as well as Anglesey in Wales. Tory peer Lord Tebbit says many Tory voters will switch to UKIP in protest at David Cameron's government.
But Mr Hague dismissed UKIP as a "fringe party" and said the real choice was between Tory and Labour.
Voters will elect 27 county councils in England, seven unitary authorities and Anglesey in Wales in Thursday's polls.
A by-election will also be held for the Westminster seat of South Shields, vacated by Labour's David Miliband.A by-election will also be held for the Westminster seat of South Shields, vacated by Labour's David Miliband.
Elections will also be held for mayors in Doncaster and North Tyneside.Elections will also be held for mayors in Doncaster and North Tyneside.
More than 2,300 seats are up for grabs in council polls regarded as an important barometer of political opinion two years before the expected date of the next general election. The Conservatives are braced for losses, with the 350 county council and unitary authority seats they won in 2009, the last time the seats were contested, potentially looking the most vulnerable.
The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said senior Conservatives were preparing for the party to lose 350 seats they won in 2009, the last time the seats were contested. The unknown factor is UKIP, which has increased its number of candidates and is targeting voters disillusioned with the big three parties at Westminster.
He said they expected to do better in more marginal, battleground areas where they are fighting and campaigning hard, but less well in safe areas where the local Conservative parties have no tradition of having to fight for every vote. 'Ill-judged rant'
Veteran cabinet minister Ken Clarke sparked a bitter war of words with the Eurosceptic party on Sunday, branding its candidates a "collection of clowns".
But he faced a backlash from some Conservatives, who accused him of playing into UKIP's hands.
Former cabinet colleague Lord Tebbit said in his Daily Telegraph blog "the intentions of many one-time Tory voters will have been reinforced by Ken Clarke's singularly ill-judged rant".
"Many former Conservative voters are so fed up with the Cameron Coalition that they will turn to UKIP as the party which comes closest to a traditional Conservative agenda," added the former Tory Party chairman.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage accused Mr Clarke of "holding millions of people in this country in utter contempt" and said his party was "appealing to people due to the failure of the bloated self-satisfied political machine of which he is such a typical member".
David Cameron, who in 2006 dismissed UKIP as "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" refused to be drawn into the latest spat, insisting he wanted to promote a "positive" message to voters.
"I am not calling anybody anything," he told ITV's Daybreak, as he sought to focus attention on the battle with Labour.
"With a day to go, I think it is still important to talk about what the choice is at this election.
"And most people sitting at home face a choice either between the Conservatives running their local council or Labour."
He said he hoped people would "stick with the blue team" that he said could deliver "good services at low cost and keep your bills down".
'In the saddle''In the saddle'
Labour has declined to say how it expects to do, but experts have said it will be looking to retake control of councils such as Derbyshire and make inroads across the south of England at the very least. But Foreign Secretary William Hague took a stronger line with UKIP in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, urging people not to "waste" their vote by opting for "fringe parties".
Mr Hague said hurling insults at political opponents was "not my style" but in a dig at UKIP's economic policies he said "you can see why a former chancellor would think they have clown-like aspects".
Labour has declined to say how it expects to do on Thursday, but experts have said it will be looking to retake control of councils such as Derbyshire and make inroads across the south of England at the very least.
Interviewed on the Today programme, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman confirmed that under the party's economic plans there would have to be a temporary rise in borrowing to fund a cut in VAT. In the long term, she said the measures would stimulate growth.
"We haven't been inconsistent in our messages... the government have cut too far and too fast" she added.
She said the party "will review... [the] universality of pensioners' benefits" such as winter fuel payments and free bus passes, amid calls for better-off pensioners to be stripped of them to save cash.
Speaking on Tuesday, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said his party had been on the "back foot" electorally since entering government in 2010 but was "back in the saddle" and confident after its victory in March's Eastleigh by-election.Speaking on Tuesday, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said his party had been on the "back foot" electorally since entering government in 2010 but was "back in the saddle" and confident after its victory in March's Eastleigh by-election.
Both the UK Independence Party, which is fielding a record number of candidates, and the Green Party of England and Wales are hoping to make notable gains. The Green Party of England and Wales are also hoping to make gains in county council contests where they are fielding candidates.
UKIP has been involved in a war of words with senior Conservatives in recent days, accusing their rivals of orchestrating a smear campaign against some of their candidates.
Speaking on Tuesday, UKIP leader Nigel Farage dismissed as a joke a story about a council candidate who created and tweeted an image of himself apparently standing with Adolf Hitler.
Dick Delingpole, a UKIP candidate in Worcester, told the BBC the image was "rather misguided".
The BBC's political correspondent Ross Hawkins said Mr Delingpole stated he had posted the image on Twitter to highlight what he believed to be an attempt by the Conservatives to dig through UKIP candidates' social media accounts for damaging material. The tweet was deleted after two hours.
Mr Farage told the BBC: "It is a joke in the wake of the Mirror story. To present it as anything else would be a travesty."
A UKIP candidate in Somerset was suspended from the party on Tuesday after a photo of him apparently making a Nazi-style salute appeared on his Facebook page.