UK election: Millions head to polls in UK election

With the polls nearing closing time, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is predicted to be swept into power in Britain, ending 14 years of conservative rule. Follow updates.

Millions of Britons have flocked to polling stations across the UK to have their say in one of the most-anticipated general elections in Britain’s history.

Both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer are still fighting to win over the final remaining undecided voters just hours before polls close at 10pm local time (7am AEST).

Labour chief Sir Keir is projected to thunder into Downing Street with a landslide while the Tories are fighting to avoid a total rout.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrive to cast their votes. Picture: PA Images via Getty Images

But Mr Sunak, who called the general election six weeks ago, has warned voters against handing Sir Keir unchecked power.

The Tory leader continued his campaigning against a Labour “socialist supermajority” with a series of overnight social media posts right up until polls opening.

He has repeatedly warned about Sir Keir hiking taxes should he enter power and claimed Labour will raid workers, savers, homeowners, pensioners and drivers.

In his final campaign rally Mr Sunak admitted he was the “underdog” but vowed: “This underdog will fight to the final whistle.”

But the final poll of the campaign has Labour five points down from last week at 37 per cent of the vote.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and his wife Akshata Murty, said he would “go down fighting”. Picture: Getty Images

If the Ipsos poll is right, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could win around 13 seats in the Commons.

The poll spells doomsday for the Tories, who stand to get their lowest share of the vote since the 1970s.

Voting opened at 7am (4pm AEST) and will close at 10pm (7am AEST) when the official exit poll will give the first indication of the final results.

LEADERS VOTE

Earlier, the leaders of the major political parties cast their vote in the election

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrived in London to cast their vote around 9.30am local time (6.30pm AEST).

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrive to cast their votes at a polling station in London. Picture: AFP

He posted a picture of him and his wife on social media site X as they made their way to the polls with the message “Today, Britain’s future is on the ballot”.

Mr Starmer briefly greeted people when he voted, but did not speak to any of the gathered media.

Earlier in the day he took to the same site, formerly known as Twitter, as polls opened and said: “Change. Today, you can vote for it.”

His counterpart, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, also posted a series of messages on X, urging voters to “stop the Labour super-majority”.

👟 Head to your polling station
✅ Bring ID
🇬🇧 Vote Conservative

🛑 Stop the Labour supermajority

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 4, 2024

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FARAGE LAPS UP UK ELECTION ICE CREAM

While far right Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage already cast his vote by post, that didn’t stop him from mingling with voters where he enjoyed an ice cream in the sunshine.

Mr Farage eats a flake ice cream in Clacton-on-Sea on election day. Picture: AFP

Mr Farage took selfies with locals as he visited the pier in Clacton.

“Let’s deliver a knockout blow to the political establishment today,” he wrote on X, accompanied by a video of himself heavyweight champion Derek Chisora, who he visited on Wednesday.

DAVEY, SWINNEY PLACE THEIR VOTES

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has placed his vote in the UK election, waving to cameras as he arrived at Surbiton Hill Methodist Church just before noon local time.

Mr Davey, wearing a suit and turquoise tie and with his wife Emily Davey by his side, said: “It’s a beautiful day. I hope lots of people come out to vote.”

First Minister of Scotland John Swinney and his son Matthew walk to a polling station in Blairgowrie. Picture: Getty

The Lib Dems are tipped to get as many votes as an Opposition party, in what would be a first for the party in a UK election.

First Minister of Scotland John Swinney also cast his vote at a polling station in Blairgowrie on Friday morning.

He was also suited up for the occasion and was joined by his son, Matthew, who at just 14 is still too young to have his say in this election.

SUNAK VOTES IN UK ELECTION

Earlier on Thursday (local time) Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty arrived in a Range Rover and walked hand-in-hand into Kirby Sigston Village Hall in his Richmond constituency.

Mr Sunak, wearing a white shirt underneath a blue jumper, greeted the photographers outside the polling station.

He left without commenting and was driven away, followed by police protection officers.

Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak arrives with his wife Akshata Murty to cast their votes. Picture: AFP

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay, also writing on X, said: “Today’s the opportunity to vote for real hope and real change, in Waveney Valley, and across the country.”

Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, posted an image asking people to “vote with your heart”, adding: “Vote for real change today. Vote Reform UK.”

The SNP tweeted: “VoteSNP to deliver independence, rejoin the EU, scrap the two-child benefit cap, invest in the just transition, protect free tuition”.

UK PAPER BACKS LABOUR ON ELECTION DAY

The UK’s most popular tabloid The Sun, which typically backs the Conservatives, has come out in favour of Labor on election day.

On the front page it said: “As Britain goes to the polls, it’s ... Time for a new manager (and we don’t mean sack Southgate)”, in reference to the England football coach who has been under pressure during the European Championships.

The last time The Sun came out in favour of Labour was for Tony Blair in 1997, when Labour won by a landslide, which is what is expected to happen again this time round.

The Sun’s front page on July 4, 2024.

THE UK GOES TO THE POLLS

The United Kingdom can expect to welcome in a new government on Friday AEST, with such a majority it’s predicted to be in power for a generation.

Sir Keir is expected to be announced as the UK’s new prime minister by early afternoon Friday AEST, with his Labour Party to dominate parliament.

Almost from the start of the five-week snap poll, voters were not talking about if Labour won, but by how much.

Some are expecting to see the incumbent Conservatives after 14-years in power with the lowest number of seats in parliament in the party’s almost 200-year history.

The election is also expected to see the emergence for the first time in the House of the far right Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage.

It will not be enough to oust the Tories from being the formal Opposition in parliament but still make an incredible presence in Westminster that only a few years ago was considered unimaginable.’

Polling stations are getting ready to open for the UK election. Picture: Getty Images

Such has been the anticipated landslide against the Tories, incumbent leader Mr Sunak and his MPs spent the last hour of campaigning not seeking votes to win but votes to avoid a “super-majority”.

The term became an accepted political lexicon during the campaign such has been the expected trouncing of the Conservatives battling cost of living anger, party divisions, failed leaderships and being too long in office.

“If just 130,000 people switch their vote and lend us their support, we can deny Starmer that super-majority,” Mr Sunak said on election eve, calling for voters to “save the UK” and warning against handing Labour “a blank cheque”.

That blank cheque includes a warning from Mr Sunak that Labour, with a huge mandate, will change the voting age to 16 to remain in power “for a very long time”.

As voting continues today, not even Mr Sunak looked safe in his seat and could be unemployed by day’s end.

A man hangs a polling station sign on a mobile unit at a Lidl supermarket car park in Loughborough, central England, on July 4. Picture: AFP

On election eve, analysts in the UK were expecting Labour to get up to 450 seats, the Liberal Democrats at least 60 seats and the Conservatives possibly up to 100 – its lowest number of seats in the 200-year history of the party.

But the biggest surprise will not be a new government but the emergence of a new vocal opposition with Nigel Farage’s right wing Reform UK polling strongly. They are expected to get less than half a dozen seats. If the voting is close, they could be enticed into a coalition with the Tories for an opposition frontbench position.

For the first time in any election, the Lib Dems led by the flamboyant Sir Ed Davey have a real chance of getting as many seats as an Opposition party.

Farage declared his party would not be enough to be the actual opposition in its own right but loud enough to be a vocal opposition to the government.

The infamous Eurosceptic pitched himself as the great disrupter and attracted appeal at the polls through his flamboyant delivery of right-wing anti-immigration populism.

His misstep however was declaring NATO’s expansion caused Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, condemned by political leaders but also at odds with polling consistently showing more than 75 per cent of Britons supporting NATO’s expansion to include more European nations.

He has had eight attempts to enter parliament and such is his Clacton seat so contested he will be among the last to declare a win or loss. But he has already been successful in again shaking up British politics.

Mr Sunak campaign was always going to be a slog but it faltered as it started when he was forced to admit he made a mistake in not participating in an international commemoration for the 80th D-Day landings anniversary. Instead he travelled back across the Channel to record a television interview which was not due to be broadcast for another fortnight.

The ultimate sacrifice by those killed then was not matched by the leader sacrificing an afternoon now, many veterans vented.

For his part, Mr Starmer said a super-majority was a mandate to get things done to turn the economy around.

“Better for the country. Because it means we can roll up our sleeves and get on with the change we need,” he declared on election eve.

On Thursday Sir Keir said: “I’m confident in the hard work that we have done and we are ready for what comes next if the country puts their trust and confidence in us”.

Originally published as UK election: Millions head to polls in UK election