TONY Blair and William Hague returned to the region last night, spending the final hours of the election campaign issuing rallying cries to supporters on home ground.

And as both men issued impassioned appeals to their respective party faithful in their Sedgefield and Richmond constituencies, final opinion polls depicted Labour maintaining a substantial lead over the Tories on the eve of the election.

The Prime Minister, speaking at Trimdon Labour Club, during half-time in the England-Greece football match, urged people to come out and vote in an election that he said "matters desperately".

He said: "Tomorrow is the day that the British people take the power in their own hands. It is not decided by the pundits or the poll figures of the media. It is not decided by people like me."

Appealing beyond the constituency to the whole of the country he said: "Don't let the cynics win.

"Don't listen to those people who tell you, don't bother to vote, when not voting would return us to the Conservative years."

At his homecoming rally in Richmond, activists who packed the town hall cheered Mr Hague's every word to the rafters.

In a markedly relaxed speech he joked: "It's great to be home - you remember me, I'm the man who has accompanied Mrs Hague round the country."

Predicting a "very good day", he added: "Because the people of this country share our instincts, we know that if we work hard enough and get our message across well enough, we can win."

A final Mori poll for The Times last night showed Labour had slipped three points from last week to 45 per cent, while the Tories remained unchanged on 30 per cent. The Liberal Democrats were up two points on 18 per cent.

A Gallup poll for The Daily Telegraph put the parties at 48, 32 and 16 points.

Election special - Pages 2 and 3

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