JOHN McDonnell mounted a last-minute bid to woo Scottish voters as he addressed activists last night, days before the UK goes to the polls.
The shadow chancellor did not mention independence or the SNP as he directed his attack at Boris Johnson and the Conservatives.
Speaking to around 250 supporters in Glasgow, McDonnell was confident Jeremy Corbyn would be moving into No 10 as the head of a winning Labour government following the General Election this Thursday.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Boris Johnson on 'thin ice' in bid for majority
He told voters at Strathclyde University: “There is no question. These are probably the five most important days of our lives.
“The five most important days for our community and our country.
“Why? Because on Thursday we are going to realise a dream.
“A dream of a Labour government with a socialist programme.”
He added: “I want to be there when Jeremy Corbyn turns up on his bike in Downing Street, takes off his bicycle clips ... cat under his arm and walks into No 10.
“Won’t the establishment be absolutely quaking.”
McDonnell attacked the Tories’ record on welfare cuts as well as increasing inequality and homelessness and vowed no child would go cold, hungry or homeless under Labour.
He pledged a Corbyn government would end poverty, scrap Universal Credit, the bedroom tax and the two-child benefit cap.
He went on to say Labour would introduce a £10 living wage, scrap zero-hour contracts and allow workers to have trade union rights from their first day in the job.
On his party’s green agenda, he said: “We are going to end fuel poverty and ... our green industrial revolution which starts here in Scotland. We are going to start insulating the 27 million homes right across the UK, creating the skilled and high-paid jobs that we need and we are going to fit them with solar power and heat pumps.”
Labour received a boost yesterday after a poll found suggests Johnson’s likely majority has been cut in half in the last two weeks – from 82 a fortnight ago to just 40 with four days to go.
The analysis of almost 30,000 voters, for the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign, also found tactical votes in 36 key seats could prevent Johnson from forming a majority government.
Without a majority, Johnson is unlikely to be able to deliver the central promise of the Tory campaign – “to get Brexit done”.
READ MORE: What are the chances of a Labour-SNP pact after December 12?
The analysis concluded that if tactical voting keeps the Tories out in the three dozen seats, the Conservatives would have 309 MPs, Labour 255, the SNP 49, the Lib Dems 14, Plaid Cymru three and the Greens one.
To guarantee a majority, a governing party needs 325 MPs.
The SNP could prop up a Labour minority government in return for indyref2 next year.
Labour has said it would not block a new independence referendum, but it would not be a priority in the early years of their administration.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard told the rally voters had a choice between a Labour or Tory government. “By this time next week, there will either be a Tory or a Labour government. That’s the choice,” he said.
“So it is a choice between continued cuts – cuts to wages, to pensions and to benefits.
“A continued rise in food banks and the return of rough sleeping.
“Or a turning point to building an economy and re-founding our society so that it works not just for the few at the top, for the millionaires, but which works for the many – for the millions.”
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