Vote Conservative today

ConservativeHome won't be updated again until 10pm tonight. It's General Election Day and we should all be out working - here are some ideas for those not already committed to constituencies - and not at our computers. But, before we go, the ConHome team - Jonathan, Paul and Harry - offer reminders as to why Britain should vote Conservative today.

Paul Goodman: "This election began in warm weather, with blue skies. To most, the fabled volcanic ash cloud was invisible.  Other threats, too, appeared to fade into the distance.  It was pleasant to bask in the sun, indulge oneself a little - perhaps even flirt with the idea of casting a Liberal protest vote. Since then, the election, framed around the three TV debates, has picked up pace, but the atmosphere of unreality remains.  Britain is bankrupt.  And very soon, Brown's bills will arrive in the post - higher prices, mortgages and taxes: not a double but a triple whammy.  In this election, their author is asking to do it all over again. If enough people drift to the polls in a trance, he'll get the opportunity.  This morning marks the British people's last chance to wake up. There are many reasons for undecided voters to support David Cameron today.  But they compress, in the end, to this: only a Conservative Government can offer the economy a fresh start under new management. For wavering voters, plumping for Cameron is taking a chance.  But against that chance is a certainty - that Brown mustn't be allowed back into Downing Street.  In 1979, a newspaper headline asked its readers to "Give the girl a chance."  Today's the day for the undecided to take a chance on David Cameron."

Jonathan Isaby: "Choosing who you want running the economy will doubtless be uppermost in many people’s minds in deciding how to cast their vote: do you back the man who as Chancellor and then Prime Minister presided over an unprecedented spending and borrowing binge, leaving the country debts which will take a generation to repay? Or do you opt for David Cameron and a fresh Conservative team – the only one which has grasped the scale of the problem and the need to take action to start reducing that debt now? That’s a no brainer as far as I’m concerned. But there are other issues at stake as well. And another choice facing us today is whether to return to power a Labour Government which has shown contempt for civil liberties and personal freedom. It has allowed the state increasingly to encroach on our lives through introducing bans, new regulations and new legislation at every juncture – as well as presiding over the growth of a health and safety culture which discourages people from taking personal responsibility in so many spheres of their lives. The alternative is to install a Conservative administration which respects individual freedom and will reverse the excesses of the Nanny/Big Brother State assembled over the past thirteen years, whilst working to restore a culture of individual responsibility and generally trusting people as being best placed to take decisions about their own lives. The chasm between the attitudes of the parties in this area could not be starker and once again it is imperative that a Conservative Government is elected to roll back the frontiers of the state."

Harry Phibbs: "A Conservative victory will give the clearest possible mandate for a smaller state and greater individual freedom. This is a long standing Conservative tenet but at no previous election campaign can I remember the case being made so powerfully and attractively. This philosophical message has been advertised on phone boxes across the land. The Big Society may have been a challenging theme to explain but it has been important to prevent the Conservative message of freedom being parodied as being one of narrow selfishness and indifference. For Labour and the Lib Dems the financial necessity for a smaller state leaves them like a rabbit with eyes caught in the headlamps. They have no grasp that big government is the cause rather than the solution to so many problems. That is why the Conservatives are best suited to the most pressing task of the next five years which will be to shrink the state. For us it is not just about averting a Greek-style financial collapse. Rather than just something we are forced into we can make it a positive task. It means liberating people from regimentation and allowing families and communities to flourish without their progress being blocked. It means changing a culture of passing by on the other side thinking everything can left to the Government. Instead of "take it or leave it" failing schools the system will be transformed with new, independently run schools driving up standards. AS well as being smaller the state will be better - more local, ore accountable, more transparent. The state will be the servant not the master of the people."

I can't add to their words so won't. I listed my ten top reasons for voting Conservative back in February. Please vote Conservative today and see you at 10pm.

Tim Montgomerie