Party leaders join millions across the UK casting their votes
People across the UK have begun casting votes in a general election expected to sweep Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives out of power and usher in Labour’s Keir Starmer as prime minister.
Sunak’s messaging on the day of polling remained about encouraging Tory voters out to “stop the Labour supermajority” rather than positioning himself to continue in Downing Street.
Starmer’s Labour were pushing people to go out and vote for change. Opinion polls suggest Labour is on course to secure a big majority, but last night Starmer told supporters to “imagine a Britain moving forward together with a Labour government. That’s what we are fighting for, let’s continue that fight. If you want change, you have to vote for it.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, Scotland’s first minister John Swinney, and Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth have all also voted. Davey, whose campaign has been marked by a series of extreme stunts, said “It’s a beautiful day. I hope lots of people come out to vote.”
An exit poll, published shortly after polls close at 10pm on Thursday, will provide the first indication of how the election has gone on a national level. These take place at polling stations across the country, with tens of thousands of people asked to privately fill in a replica ballot as they leave, to get an indication of how they voted.
If Starmer were to become prime minister, it would be the first time the UK’s leader has changed as a result of a general election since 2010, when David Cameron succeeded Gordon Brown. Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Sunak himself all became prime minister after internal Conservative party mechanism rather than through a general election.
Key events
While Martin Belam has now headed off for a well-earned rest, I (Amy) have taken over the duties of posting pictures of dogs (and other animals) at polling stations. Here’s a little selection that have come in via our readers.
Jodie has shared a picture of the “noble Bill O’Shea”, who I’m assured is a very good boy and has performed his civic duty in Greenwich today.
Duster the double doodle at Hackney town hall is “hungry for change”, says Oliver, who has sent in this lovely picture.
Jon, has shared a photograph of his white golden retriever, Ted, outside the Hive community centre in Dollar in the new Scottish constituency of Dunfermline and Dollar.
Justin has also got in touch via email with this delightful picture of his puppy, Oscar, going to the polling station today for the first time.
If a week is a long time in politics, the five-year gap between UK elections is an eternity. The political landscape has changed dramatically since the Tories’ landslide victory in 2019 – but so too has the social media landscape.
In 2019 TikTok was, according to a Guardian explainer, “a video-sharing app which has become phenomenally popular with teenagers”.
Fast-forward to 2023 when, according to an Ofcom survey, 10% of people aged 16-plus said they received their news from TikTok, ahead of BBC Radio 1 and on a par with the Guardian, and up significantly from 1% in 2020, after the last election.
And while there are those who say the so-called battle for TikTok is overstated, platform creators are well aware there is an audience for political content among TikTok users, young and old.
To help understand how the 2024 election played out on TikTok, a number of Guardian reporters monitored the platform using four separate accounts for an hour a day for a week, searching for the widely used tag #ukpolitics and campaign-specific hashtags and terms.
You can see what they found here:
Reporting by Carmen Aguilar García, Pamela Duncan, Michael Goodier and Zeke Hunter-Green with videos by Elena Morresi.
Fourteen years, five prime ministers, four election cycles, two UK-wide referendums and a global pandemic: a lot has happened since the Conservative party entered coalition in 2010.
But there are other, bigger figures on voters’ minds: 7.6 million people on waiting lists for hospital treatment in England (three times the 2010 figure); 3% of Britons having to use a food bank, all while the cost of a weekly shop, household bills and mortgage repayments is rising.
Numbers matter and data tells a story. A selection of charts, put together by Pamela Duncan, Carmen Aguilar García and Michael Goodier, show how 14 years of Conservative rule has changed the country in five key policy areas.
You can take a look at their piece here:
You can also then click through to explore the wider Tory legacy for each topic, in full, in charts.
Clea Skopeliti
More readers have been getting in touch … and some who are living abroad have shared with us the lengths they’ve gone to ensure their vote is counted today.
Lawrence Cheung, 62, who lives in France but is voting in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency, said that he entrusted his voting envelope to a Londoner who was returning on the Eurostar from the Gare du Nord, in Paris this morning.
Cheung did so after his postal vote arrived too late – an issue that the Guardian has been reporting on this week.
“I found a man who was a lone traveller with a simple backpack. He confirmed he was a Londoner who lives close to the City. As he understood what was at stake, it didn’t take much persuasion.
“I received my polling documents yesterday, which was insufficient time for returning by post, even from within the UK. Thankfully, the postal vote can be deposited at any polling station within the constituency.”
Cheung’s volunteer delivered the envelope in the Barbican this afternoon. “It turns out that his name is Moritz, and I cannot thank him enough.”
Andrew Murphy, 63, is one of many Britons living abroad who regained the lifelong right to vote this year after the 15-year rule ended. Remembering that his postal vote hadn’t arrived in time in the past, Murphy, who works for the European Commission and lives in Waterloo, Belgium, wasn’t leaving anything to chance: he decided to take the Eurostar in order to cast his vote in person.
“In the past (until 2005, when I lost the right to vote) I had a postal vote but the papers were never sent early enough to be counted. This way, they won’t be depriving me of my democratic right – I’ve turned up in person,” he said, explaining that he then travelled from London to Bristol to vote in the Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency.
“They kept sending me reminders to get the postal vote – but I thought, I’m not falling for that again!”
Murphy, who is from Liverpool, didn’t have anyone in his constituency that could easily vote for him by proxy. He was determined to vote, particularly after he was deprived of the right during the 2016 referendum. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to vote since the EU referendum, so it’s quite symbolic.
“It was expensive – but I’d probably have walked here, for this particular one.”
Other readers have expressed anger at not being able to vote at all.
Despite applying for her postal vote on 25 May, Sarah, who lives in Copenhagen but votes in Orpington, said she only received her postal vote on 3 July, leaving her unable to vote.
She explained that the options available to her were impractical – couriering it for same-day delivery would be extortionately expensive.“Or I could ask my boss for permission to take an unplanned, last-minute day off in a busy season so I can fly to the UK and deliver it myself. Both options are unaffordable and terrible for the environment,” she said, adding that she also had young children and childcare would be a problem.
“It’s a democratic right, it’s not some company delivering a bikini I’d ordered. I’m cross – I really wanted to vote.”
Lisa O’Carroll
The body that represents electoral officers and administrators has said electoral legislation is no longer adequate, amid widespread reports of disfranchisement of postal voters marring Thursday’s general election.
The Association of Electoral Administrators says pressure on running the services has mounted over recent years, with elections delivered “in spite of rather than because of the fragmented framework of laws”.
It has called for sweeping reforms including a new timeline for postal votes, registration of candidates and powers for officers to investigate errors and reports of disfranchisement when they occur.
Laura Lock, the deputy chief executive of the AEA, said: “Election teams are doing their very best to run this snap election, but with a short timetable and an election held when many are on holiday – plus print and delivery suppliers working at capacity – demand has severely tested the system.”
Lock said earlier deadlines for absent voting applications would be “better” and help councils get voting packs posted earlier, including those overseas.
Under existing laws, elections can be called a minimum of 25 days before polling day. The AEA says this is too tight and should be extended to 30 days as is the case for the London mayoral and Greater London authority elections.
It also wants powers to intervene when needed to avert disfranchisement, allowing those who did not receive a postal vote the opportunity to get a friend, family member or trusted person to cast their vote on election day.
The number of people seeking postal votes has rocketed in recent years, with 10 million this year and 8 million in 2019 compared with 1.7 million in 2010 and about 1 million in the decades stretching back to the 1970s.
Data from the House of Commons shows the “turnout” of postal voters is exceptionally high, at more than 83% in the past four elections, representing 20% of the total number of valid votes cast.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for today. Thank you for all your comments, which I always enjoy and often find useful. I am handing over to Amy Sedghi. Andrew Sparrow will be along later for when the results are coming in. I will be back with you bright and early tomorrow. I did ask for your dog pictures, and you have sent me some lovely ones – apologies if I didn’t get to use yours …
This is Bilbo the Westie braving the drizzle in Mossley in the Stalybridge and Hyde constituency, sent in by Joseph and Emma.
This is Dougal the cocker spaniel from Louisa.
Here are Murphy and Macie enjoying the election in Dronfield, North East Derbyshire, from Sam.
And I’ll just finish to say the RSPCA have a #DogsNotAtPollingStations campaign to try to find some forever homes for rescue dogs this election.
PS. There is still time to do my general election quiz. See you tomorrow.
A couple of weeks ago my colleague Libby Brooks interviewed Prof Sir John Curtice about his work on the exit poll. It will be published at 10pm, and has an extremely good track record of accurately predicting the results of the election.
Anyway, it appears by now they should have the answer that we have got to wait for another seven-and-a-half hours for.
It’s 2pm which means that Sir John Curtice and @robfordmancs already know the result of the exit poll.
The rest of us have to wait until 10pm…
Because if Sir John told us he might end up in jail…. pic.twitter.com/A0K0jPcHtE
— UK in a Changing Europe (@UKandEU) July 4, 2024
As he so memorably put it when talking to Libby “From about 11 o’clock in the morning, we’re poring over an exit poll and from about 12 hours later, we’re shitting bricks as to whether it’s right or not.”
Kemi Badenoch, secretary of state for business and trade, has been castigating the local council in North West Essex over missing postal ballots, drawing a comparison with, she says, a desire for change at local elections that voted out the Conservatives, and suggesting that is the risk people take today if they vote for change from the party that has been in government for the last 14 years. “Don’t change for the worse,” her series of messages ends.
Lots of questions on doorstep today about missing postal ballots in North West Essex and all the shenanigans this might entail.
“How could this happen!?” they ask.
Well… it’s an interesting parallel given the polls yesterday…..(1/4) 👇
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) July 4, 2024
5 years ago, all but four Conservatives on Uttlesford council were voted out. People wanted “Change”.
Instead, they got “Change for the WORSE”, electing an independent residents group who ran a blame-the-Tories campaign.
The community is now saddled with….(2/4) 👇
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) July 4, 2024
For a bit of balance, people are actually posting pictures of themselves taking their cats to polling stations as well.
Some people have used alternative forms of travel in order to get out and cast their vote.
Do these ducks count?
And I’m not at all sure how I would react if I went to vote and got confronted by this …
Polling day is one of the stranger fixtures in the news calendar, as there is clearly huge interest and expectancy, and lots of traffic to the website – thank you for reading – but actually until the exit poll 10pm there isn’t really much concrete to report except that senior figures have turned out to vote and said they have voted.
That is how it comes to be that #DogsAtPollingStations comes to fill time. We will have more of that in a minute. Here are some politicians out and about campaigning though …
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has paid tribute to his wife in a social media message, saying that without her support he wouldn’t be on the ballot paper.
Green party of England and Wales co-leader Carla Denyer is out and about in Bristol, and suggesting if you see their volunteers you should flag them down to get a sticker.
Stop 3 on my big polling day tour of Bristol Central and we’re in Cotham where the number of Green boards is overwhelming!
The sun is shining and our teams are out working hard across the city ☀️
If you see them, ask for one of our ‘Vote Green’ stickers! pic.twitter.com/UQEqyWKQiX
— Carla Denyer (@carla_denyer) July 4, 2024
Labour’s leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar is also on a bit of a tour around constituencies.
Sarah Dyke, formerly Liberal Democrat MP for Somerton and Frome, now contesting Glastonbury and Somerton after boundary changes, had the right idea, and borrowed somebody else’s dogs to make sure she could get a mention in the blog.
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