<p><br /> The party leaders are engaged in frenzied last-ditch campaigning with just hours to go until the General Election.<br /> </p><p><br /> An eve-of-election poll showed the Conservatives stretching their lead to a clear eight points, but suggested they are still short of the support they would need to claim an outright majority in the House of Commons.<br /> </p><p><br /> The Opinium survey put David Cameron's party on 35 per cent (up two points on a similar poll published in the paper on Monday), with Labour down one point on 27 per cent and the Liberal Democrats down one on 26 per cent.<br /> </p><p><br /> If repeated on Thursday, the figures would give Tories around 284 seats in the new Parliament - 42 short of a majority. Labour would take 257 seats, with the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power on 80.<br /> </p><p><br /> David Cameron issued an impassioned appeal to voters to propel him into Downing Street, urging them to imagine a "better, stronger country" under the Conservatives.<br /> </p><p><br /> Gordon Brown hammered home his message that only Labour could guarantee the economic recovery, declaring: "This is not a Conservative moment". Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg urged his supporters to hold firm in the face of pressure from the two larger parties.<br /> </p>
