General election 2017: How the papers want you to vote

Today's general election result is still many hours away, but if it were decided by the headlines in today's press, Theresa May would have it in the bag.

According to The Sun, a vote for Labour is a vote to "chuck Britain in the Cor-bin", with the tabloid illustrating the point with a mock-up of Jeremy Corbyn in a dustbin.

Its front page also rehashes the paper's objections to the "useless" Labour leader, including its controversial claim that he is a "terrorists' friend" and a "Marxist extremist".

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In an editorial, the Sun tells readers: "Today you can rescue Britain from the catastrophe of a takeover by Labour's hard-left extremists."

Claiming Corbyn would "not just reverse seven years of job creation and growth under the Tories" but also "chuck out country's spectacular progress and prosperity over the last 35 years in the bin", it warns: "If enough people vote Labour, Britain faces a nightmare beyond anyone's experience."

The Daily Express's endorsement of the Conservatives will surprise no one, with the paper going so far as to frame support for Theresa May as a patriotic duty.

Its editorial reads: "This is a moment for patriotic realism, not socialist indulgence. We can either move forward with the Conservatives, restoring our democratic sovereignty and maintaining our economic solvency. Or we can slide into Labour's world of bankruptcy, chaos and despair, made all the worse by continued surrender to Brussels."

The Daily Telegraph strikes a similar note, leading with the Prime Minister's call for patriotic Labour supporters to hold their nose and vote Tory to give her the mandate she needs to enter Brexit talks.

It also implores people to go to vote, saying: "We described this election yesterday as like no other and that is true because of the circumstances which brought it about: Brexit. The next two years will determine the UK's future. Everyone who believes that the nation's fate should not under any circumstances be entrusted to Mr Corbyn has a duty to go out and vote today."

Adding its voice to the pro-May chorus, the Daily Mail urges: "Let's reignite the British spirit."

The Times's leader says it is "not fearmongering to say a government led by Mr Corbyn would be a disaster for Britain. It is a fact."

It adds: "The choice facing Britain is in fact between Theresa May's doggedness and Mr Corbyn's delusions. It should be an easy one to make."

Although Corbyn's front page support may be comparatively thin on the ground, he can take some consolation from the Daily Mirror, which hits out at the "lying" Conservative government and its "broken promises".

It tells readers: "Please don't let us endure another five years of misery under Theresa May's Tories.

"We can, as the Labour leader spells out, enjoy a future filled with hope for the many not the few or endure another five miserable years of Tory inequality and cuts.

"So we urge you for your sake, your family's sake, your community's sake and our country's sake to vote for real change."

The Guardian also backs Labour, telling readers last week: "[May's] campaign has been grimly negative and entirely joyless. Her jumpy U-turn on her social care proposals revealed Mrs May to be a poor judge of campaign tactics. It was especially foolish because it was presented as part of an intergenerational conflict over shrinking resources. Mrs May is reluctant to risk much interaction with voters and is evasive with journalists. Her failure to call out Donald Trump's destructive impulse over the climate change accord speaks volumes. We should disregard the propaganda masquerading as news from the acolyte press: as Mrs May's credibility on the campaign has withered, Mr Corbyn's has grown.

"Most pundits think the voters will repudiate Mr Corbyn's Labour party. They may do so. But Mr Corbyn has shown that the party might be the start of something big rather than the last gasp of something small. On 8 June, Labour deserves our vote."

Tim Farron's Lib Dems get their support from The Economist, which backs the party on the basis of its support for membership of the EU single market and free movement.

Its editorial reads: "It is a dismal choice for this newspaper, which sees little evidence of our classical, free-market liberal values in either of the main parties. We believe that, as it leaves the EU, Britain should remain open: to business, investment and people. Brexit will do least damage if seen as an embrace of the wider world, not simply a rejection of Europe.

"We want a government that maintains the closest ties with the EU while honouring the referendum, and that uses Brexit to reassert the freedom of Britain's markets and society—the better to keep dynamic firms and talented people around. In their different ways, both Labour and the Tories fail this test.

"No party passes with flying colours. But the closest is the Liberal Democrats."

And for those voters who still haven't made up their minds, the i newspaper offers a reminder that the election is not a two-horse race and gives each of the eight mainstream party leaders space for a final appeal to voters.