'Conservative manifesto 2017' searches surge on Google as election voters decide last minute

The two parties' manifesto have been neck-and-neck throughout the election period, at least on Google

(Reuters)

Google searches for the Conservative manifesto surged in the UK with just moments to go before the general election polls closed on Thursday evening.

Throughout the election period, searches for "Labour manifesto" were more popular than those for "Conservative manifesto". But in the final hours of the election, tens of thousands of people rushed to search for the phrase "Conservative manifesto 2017", according to Google.

It isn't clear why people were searching for the phrase, or why they surged in the last moments. But it and related searches were among the top trending searches in the minutes before polls closed.

Throughout the election period, Labour's manifesto has received more interest from the public, according to Google's data. The Conservatives only had more interest on one day: 18 May, when the party launched its manifesto.

Since then, interest has trailed off – though it has been picking up over the last week, as the UK got ready to go to the polls.

That same interest has been present on social media, too. The week it was launched, the Labour manifesto was one of the most shared links on all of social media.