This live blog is closed.
We’ve already got our first sausage dog at a polling station, so the day is going swimmingly. This is Maggie voting in Wellingborough and Rushden, which was won by Gen Kitchen for Labour in February, when she overturned an 18,000 Tory majority.
Maggie voting for her second time in Wellingborough this morning #dogsatpollingstations pic.twitter.com/PhX6llIXNa
— David Muller (@DavidMu30761326) July 4, 2024
This is the video that Labour leader Keir Starmer has put out on social media as polls open in the UK general election. With a significant lead in polling before the day, Starmer is widely expected to become the next UK prime minister.
Change.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 4, 2024
Today, you can vote for it.
pic.twitter.com/pLOFU5ijTz
Larry Elliott is the Guardian’s economics editor
Labour’s post-election honeymoon will be short-lived unless it takes immediate action to deliver on workers’ rights and brings a swift end to 14 years of public sector pay restraint, the president of the TUC has said.
Matt Wrack, also the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said Sir Keir Starmer should convene a summit with unions within days to plan how a new government would deliver for workers if Labour is victorious in Thursday’s election.
“Unions should be invited in quickly to set out their priorities,” Wrack said in an interview with the Guardian as Starmer prepares for an expected landslide victory.
Wrack said there were issues that required urgent action, including delivering on Labour’s New Deal for workers, resolving long-running public sector strikes and boosting wages.
Read more here: Labour must take immediate action to deliver on workers’ rights, says union chief
Good morning everybody, Martin Belam here. This is the deal with comments. They are open on the blog today. The Representation of the People Act outlaws the reporting of how people voted, so you can let everyone know you cast a vote, but please don’t say how you voted. I know I can trust you to behave yourselves. I will chip in where I think I can add any value and/or joy.
As the UK goes to the polls on Thursday, our community team want to hear from voters about what’s happening where they are.
If you voted, how was your experience? Were there queues or was it quiet? Did you go alone or with others? Did you have any issues voting, such as problems with a proxy vote, or voter registration or ID? If so, tell us about it. Were you able to vote in the end?
You can find out how to get in touch with the team here, and some of your contributions may end up on the live blog if you give permission.
As well as the introduction of new photo ID requirements in England, Scotland and Wales, this election is also different from 2019 because a number of boundary changes have been implemented.
With only 77 constituencies remaining unchanged, the boundary review changes which seat many people will be voting in. You can check which is your constituency with our interactive tool here.
Don’t get caught out like Boris Johnson did in May’s local elections. For the first time in a UK general election people in England, Scotland and Wales will need to produce photo ID at polling stations on Thursday to be able to vote in person. Northern Ireland introduced voter ID in 2002. Here is what you need to know.
The main things to use are either a passport or a driving licence. Passports can be from the UK, EU or Commonwealth, driving licences from the UK and EU. Documents from Norway, Iceland are Liechtenstein are also accepted, as are driving licences from the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands.
There are also a mind-boggling 18 other types of document that can be used, including concessionary travel pass for older and disabled people. Student ID is not accepted.
The ID can have expired, as long as you still look like the photo. You can find more details here.
Voting has begun across the UK for a general election which polling suggests could bring an end to 14 years of the Conservative party in government, and see Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer installed in Downing Street as the new prime minister.
Polling stations will be open until 10pm, and for the first time in England, Scotland and Wales general election voters will be required to provide photo identification before voting in person. Northern Ireland introduced voter ID in 2002.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak called the election six weeks ago in a rain-soaked speech outside No 10 where he had to battle against the sounds of 1997 New Labour anthem Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream being blasted out by a protester, and his campaign has been uphill ever since. The Conservatives have barely made a dent into Labour’s polling lead, which has consistently shown Starmer’s party to be about 20 points ahead, much higher than the swing needed to reverse the party’s dismal 2019 general election result.
The Conservative campaign has been bedevilled with scandal, as people close to the PM and Tory candidates were accused of betting on the timing of the election, leading to a police investigation. The last few days of the campaign have seen the Tories seize desperately on the Labour leader saying he intends to carve out some time with his family each week to claim he would “clock off” from being PM at 6pm, and claim that people should vote Conservative to avoid Labour winning a “supermajority” – a meaningless concept that has no formal existence in the Westminster system. Sunak has repeatedly used a discredited line that Labour policies will add more than £2,000 to tax bills.
Labour have faced their own problems, with selection rows over Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen overshadowing the early days of the campaign, and accusations that the party is putting forward an uninspiring programme that has undone much of the enthusiasm younger voters had developed for Labour during the years that Jeremy Corbyn was leader. Corbyn is standing as an independent candidate for his old seat in North Islington. Disquiet over the party’s approach to Israel’s conflict in Gaza is also expected to cost the party votes, especially in urban areas and areas with significant Muslim populations. Comments Starmer made in recent days about Bangladeshi immigrants have landed badly with that community.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has tried to use a stunt-laden campaign to attract coverage of his party’s policies as it attempts to overtake the SNP and once again become the third largest party in the House of Commons.
For their part, the SNP with Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and recently installed first minister of Scotland John Swinney have campaigned on a platform insisting that however people feel about the government in Holyrood, this election is a chance to send a strong Scottish voice to London. Labour are looking to reclaim seats in Scotland’s central belt that had for many, many years been traditional Labour heartlands. Polls have Labour and SNP closer than they have been for years in Scotland.
In Wales, Labour’s campaign has been hindered by controversy swirling around donations to first minister Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign, which Plaid Cymru will hope they can exploit. In Northern Ireland, DUP interim leader Gavin Robinson is defending a narrow majority in Belfast East. George Galloway is attempting to hold the Rochdale seat he won in a February byelection for the Workers Party of Britain. The Green Party of England and Wales have made four seats in England their main target.
The early surprise of the campaign was Nigel Farage’s decision to seize leadership of the Reform UK party from Richard Tice. MRP polling models have suggested the party might win as many as 18 seats, or indeed none at all. Predictions they would surge in polling have during the campaign have broadly not been met, but Farage has said his intention is to build a movement to oppose Labour that will put him in a position to become prime minister in 2029.
It is Martin Belam with you on the blog for the next few hours – do drop me a line at martin.belam@theguardian.com if you like, especially if you spot errors, mistakes, omissions, have questions, or just want to send me a picture of your dog enjoying the election.
With 15 minutes to go until polling stations open, a reminder that they close at 10pm today, Thursday 4 July.
If you are in the queue outside your polling station at 10pm you will still be allowed to vote, but if you arrive after 10pm you will not be able to cast a ballot.
If you are in the UK, you will have been sent a polling card which will tell you which polling station to go to. If you have not got that card for whatever reason, you can enter your address into wheredoivote.co.uk.
Some other rules:
If you make a mistake on your ballot paper, you can ask a member of staff for a replacement (as long as you’ve not put your voting paper in the ballot box)
You will be provided with a pencil, but may use your own if you prefer to
You are not allowed to take photographs inside the polling station
Some polling stations allow dogs inside, others don’t
From the moment six weeks ago that Rishi Sunak announced the election in pouring rain outside 10 Downing Street, his campaign has faced a series of setbacks, from the backlash triggered by his early return from a D-day commemoration, to a betting scandal in which a Conservative politician was discovered to have bet on the date of the election. The Guardian’s political media editor, Jim Waterson, explains how the party’s campaign fell apart and whether it stood a chance to begin with:
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion