If you did not get a chance to do it yesterday, then can I recommend you spend a couple of minutes between now and the exit poll at 10pm having a crack at the Guardian’s supermassive election quiz …
Millions go to the polls in general election – as it happened
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Thu 4 Jul 2024 16.15 EDT
First published on Thu 4 Jul 2024 00.45 EDT- Green party co-leader Carla Denyer votes in Bristol
- Party leaders join millions across the UK casting their votes
- Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey votes in Surbiton
- Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth votes in Ynys Môn
- Labour leader Keir Starmer votes in London
- First minister John Swinney votes in Blairgowrie
- List of 2024 party election manifestos
- Rishi Sunak votes in his Yorkshire constituency
- Get in touch – tell us what’s happening where you are on polling day
- Election boundary changes – find out what constituency you are in for this election
- What photo ID do I need to vote in the 2024 UK general election?
- Polling stations open in UK as country poised to eject Tories after 14 years of government
- Rules at the polling station
- What is the King's role in the election?
- Best photos from the last day of campaigning
- Did that really happen? 14 years of chaotic Tory government
- When will we know the results?
- What is 'first past the post'?
- How do general elections work in the UK?
- Does bad weather tend to impact turnout?
- Today's weather
- Today's front pages
- Voting day is here at last
Live feed
- Green party co-leader Carla Denyer votes in Bristol
- Party leaders join millions across the UK casting their votes
- Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey votes in Surbiton
- Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth votes in Ynys Môn
- Labour leader Keir Starmer votes in London
- First minister John Swinney votes in Blairgowrie
- List of 2024 party election manifestos
- Rishi Sunak votes in his Yorkshire constituency
- Get in touch – tell us what’s happening where you are on polling day
- Election boundary changes – find out what constituency you are in for this election
- What photo ID do I need to vote in the 2024 UK general election?
- Polling stations open in UK as country poised to eject Tories after 14 years of government
- Rules at the polling station
- What is the King's role in the election?
- Best photos from the last day of campaigning
- Did that really happen? 14 years of chaotic Tory government
- When will we know the results?
- What is 'first past the post'?
- How do general elections work in the UK?
- Does bad weather tend to impact turnout?
- Today's weather
- Today's front pages
- Voting day is here at last
![Alfie Packham](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/03/23/Alfie-Packham.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b34ab1a94cebd9985ba6120ef8794910)
Readers have been getting in touch as they head to the polls this morning.
In Sheffield Central, NHS GP Tom McAnea, 54, said he is “excited” to be voting. “The sun is shining brightly this morning which should be an encouragement for voters to turn out. This is my ninth general election where I can vote, the first being in 1992. I still find the whole process both a privilege and a huge responsibility.”
Tom was accompanied by his 17-year-old daughter, Freya, who hopes to study politics at university next year. “She’s very keyed up today. She’s frustrated she can’t vote but is enthused by the whole process. We’ll be tuning in this evening at 10pm for the exit poll. I voted not long after seven. It wasn’t busy, but I could see that there was already a list of people who had been in and voted. I think they’re expecting a good turnout today.”
![Tom McAnea and his daughter, Freya.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/329b59ee36337b151a19ebe1759a6583207c62a8/0_233_3088_1853/master/3088.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
Hayley voted earlier this morning in Ashton-under-Lyne with her dog Nova.
She said there she didn’t have any problem voting and there was no queue around 8am. Hayley added it was Nova’s first election (she is 18 months old) though she may not have been as excited as some.
“She was shown the leaflets from all the candidates but she was more interested in the one from the local pizza place.”
![Hayley's dog, Nova, who apparently prefers pizza to politics.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0daf9d2bbc245e785fe2b6a9c1697e71ba9e3ccd/0_0_1600_1212/master/1600.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
Andrew Dunning, 37, from Oxford, voted at 7.30 with his son, aged three. “My son had us up at 4.30 am asking whether ‘goat’ rhymes with ‘poll’. There was nobody at the polling station and I was the tenth person to vote. We put a cross on the ballot papers together.”
Having to show ID has made the process feel “less friendly” this year, he adds. “The very nice fellow who was running the polling station went to ask the manager if they should accept my passport because I’ve grown my hair and beard out since the photo was taken nine years ago. Then he asked my son, ‘Is this daddy?’ My son said yes. ‘That’s fine, then.’”
![Andrew Dunning and his son voting today.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3fc1c9ce265e875187b2ad2386722cd6e873c2bc/0_0_4032_3024/master/4032.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
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You can tell us what is happening where you are on polling day – details of how to contact the team can be found here.
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth votes in Ynys Môn
Plaid Cymru’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has posted a video clip of himself after he cast his vote in Ynys Môn.
He said:
I’ve just voted for Llinos Medi and Plaid Cymru here on Ynys Môn. For fairness. For ambition. For Wales. For fair funding for Wales. For the NHS. For your family. For your community. Thank you to you for all your support.
✅I’ve just voted for @llinos_medi and Plaid Cymru here on Ynys Môn.
— Rhun ap Iorwerth (@RhunapIorwerth) July 4, 2024
Across Wales today, you have the opportunity to vote for Plaid Cymru candidates that will put your community first in Westminster.
Cofiwch fynd â cherdyn adnabod a phleidleisiwch dros @Plaid_Cymru heddiw🏴🏴🏴 pic.twitter.com/28zxwxFAXC
It is one of the constituencies Plaid Cymru have been targeting in this election. Last time out Ynys Môn was won by Conservative Virginia Crosbie as a gain from Labour, but both Labour and Plaid Cymru were only narrowly behind with a couple of thousand votes in it.
Labour leader Keir Starmer votes in London
Keir Starmer has arrived to vote in London with his wife, Victoria. Polling ahead of the election suggests he is the person most likely to be the next prime minister of the UK, five years after his Labour party suffered a disastrous defeat in the December 2019 general election which saw Boris Johnson returned as UK prime minister. The country has changed leader twice since without holding a general election.
![Labour leader Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrive to cast their votes.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/67710401d15eb604df6f30ddd9ab50990c0b4a16/0_0_3500_2628/master/3500.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
Rishi Sunak and John Swinney have already voted, as has now, according to PA Media, Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie. He voted at Seagoe Primary School in Portadown. Beattie told reporters “It is an important day, it is a day for the people to cast their votes. We have run a good campaign.”
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also voted, posting a picture of himself outside a polling station with the message “Just voted for the independent candidate in Islington North. I heard he’s alright.”
Just voted for the independent candidate in Islington North.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) July 4, 2024
I heard he’s alright. pic.twitter.com/xLDltYLSio
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has urged people on social media to “be part of it” by voting for Labour today.
Be part of it. pic.twitter.com/BJuVXA3YVX
— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) July 4, 2024
Sunak’s message seems to be one of accepting inevitable defeat, telling people to “Head to your polling station. Bring ID. Vote Conservative. Stop the Labour supermajority*”
👟 Head to your polling station
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 4, 2024
✅ Bring ID
🇬🇧 Vote Conservative
🛑 Stop the Labour supermajority
Jane Dodds, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Wales, has taken her dog Wanda down to vote.
Me and Wanda have just cast our vote for @libdemdavid and for a Fair Deal for Wales. Have you voted yet? Make sure to head to a polling station by 10pm (with photo ID)! 🔶️🏴 pic.twitter.com/BS8lqBjhxd
— Jane Dodds AS/MS 🔶🏴 (@DoddsJane) July 4, 2024
And Pickles the dachshund has been down to the polling station in Ticknall Village hall in the South Derbyshire, and appears to be showing there is a great deal more trust placed in his recall abilities than I would dare with my very mischievous miniature dachshund Willow.
![Pickle the Daschund waits for his owner outside Ticknall Village hall.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4c368c07195b28301361e9eaddad4df67d2f9bb8/0_337_7246_4345/master/7246.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
*There is no such thing as a “supermajority” in British politics. A government either enjoys a majority in the House of Commons, or it does not.
Aletha Adu, our political correspondent, has this explainer on what different results would mean for Labour, looking three scenarios: a moderate majority of 0-80 seats, a Blair-style landslide of 80-179 seats, and a haul of more than 179 seats.
Read more here: Blair-style landslide or ‘supermajority’: what different results would mean for Labour
If you can’t get enough politics coverage – and the fact you are reading an election day live blog more than twelve hours before we get the exit poll suggests you might be that kind of person – then tomorrow evening my colleague Hugh Muir will chair a panel of Guardian columnists and writers including John Crace, Gaby Hinsliff, Jonathan Freedland, and Zoe Williams at an event in London called Guardian Newsroom: Election results special.
It is on from 7.30pm-9pm (BST) tomorrow, and you can join it in person or on a livestream. There are more details here.
First minister John Swinney votes in Blairgowrie
First minister of Scotland, John Swinney, has arrived to vote alongside SNP candidate Dave Doogan at the polling place in Blairgowrie, near Perth.
![First minister of Scotland, John Swinney (R), with SNP candidate Dave Doogan in Blairgowrie.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cb39194fdba70c8c5c03b91e5d36ccdff1d679e1/0_0_5472_3648/master/5472.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
PA Media report that addressing supporters at a pre-election rally in Leith on Wednesday evening, John Swinney said the Conservatives were going to be “heavily defeated” by the Labour party in England, but that there were “narrow margins” between Labour and the SNP in Scotland.
On social media the SNP has urged people to message friends and family reminded them to vote, saying “Don’t wake up on Friday thinking that you could have done more in the final days of the campaign. You can help to boost turnout at the election by messaging everyone you know to remind them to vote SNP today.”
📢 Don’t wake up on Friday thinking that you could have done more in the final days of the campaign.
— The SNP (@theSNP) July 4, 2024
📱 You can help to boost turnout at the election by messaging everyone you know to remind them to #VoteSNP TODAY.
🪪 Remember to bring your photo ID as well! pic.twitter.com/GGOfZ4vzrr
The SNP candidate for Glasgow West, Carol Monaghan, has posted a pic of Wee Jean wearing an SNP rosette at a polling place in the newly formed constituency of Glasgow West. Monaghan was MP for Glasgow North West from 2015 to 2024.
It’s an early start for Wee Jean at the Whiteinch Centre. #GlasgowWest#VoteSNP#DogsAtPollingStations pic.twitter.com/RTrbCkZ0Ai
— Carol Monaghan 🏴 🇺🇦 (@CMonaghanSNP) July 4, 2024
Robbie Butler is standing for the Ulster Unionist Party in Lagan Valley, where he came third in 2019. He has just posted to say thathe hasn’t missed an election since he was 18 and has just cast his vote today, but what caught my eye was the similarity in his post to the internet meme of Timothy Dalton as Simon Skinner in Hot Fuzz.
Haven’t missed a vote since I was 18 and I’ve cast mine this morning.
— Robbie Butler MLA (@RobbieButlerMLA) July 4, 2024
Make sure to have your voice heard and vote for a better #NorthernIreland and #BackButler in #LaganValley for #GE24 pic.twitter.com/nFoy7SbE0i
It's Timothy Dalton's birthday today.
— Sean | STARS_TyranT (@STARS_TyranT) March 21, 2023
His casting as Simon Skinner in Hot Fuzz is one of the all time great castings in the history of cinema. A performance that gets funnier and more genius the more you see it.
Well done on this @edgarwright. Inspired.
Happy Birthday Timothy! pic.twitter.com/2iDQJymajp
[Please note it is not Timothy Dalton’s birthday today, that is just an old social media post]
My colleague John Crace has clearly been up and early to vote, and has posted a picture of Herbert Hound to confirm it. If you missed it, his sketch of the last day of the campaign – Rishi sinks into TV sofa as Boris gloats and Mel goes rogue – can be found here, and he also teamed up with Marina Hyde alongside Helen Pidd to discuss the election on yesterday’s Today in Focus podcast. Crace that is. Herbert Hound is not on the podcast.
Herbert Hound confident of winning in Tooting pic.twitter.com/PVNFmPD3sL
— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) July 4, 2024
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