Green party co-leader Carla Denyer votes in Bristol
Green party of England and Wales co-leader Carla Denyer took a moment to sit down after casting her vote in Bristol.
PA Media reports she greeted photographers and reporters outside the church.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer after casting her vote at Redland Park United Reformed Church in Bristol. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
Denyer is standing in Bristol Central, which is one of four seats where the party hopes to win. In a message on social media Denyer said:
No need to guess who I voted for! The energy in Bristol today is electric! On the short walk to the polling station, I met 8 Green volunteers and heard “well done” and “I voted for you” from voters Thank you, everyone, and remember to bring ID to vote!
No need to guess who I voted for 😉
The energy in Bristol today is electric! On the short walk to the polling station, I met 8 Green volunteers and heard 'well done' and 'I voted for you' from voters 💚
On its social media channels the Green party has claimed the vote of Leap the dog – although the Guardian hasn’t been able to verify whether they are on the electoral roll.
🐾 Leap has been to vote Green for real hope and real change.
They have also been able to claim the support of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who has been posing with a large vegetable that is occasionally wearing his glasses.
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.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty leave the polling station having voted. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
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.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrive to cast their votes. Photograph: James Manning/PA
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.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey votes in Surbiton
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, has voted in Surbiton.
PA Media reports he said “good morning everybody” to the assembled media and waved to the cameras as he arrived at Surbiton Hill Methodist Church. A voter leaving the polling station wished Davey good luck.
Britain's LibDem party leader Ed Davey and his wife Emily Davey wave to the media in Kingston, London. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP
Davey, who has certainly made a name for himself with his total dedication to eye-catching stunts this campaign, said “It’s a beautiful day. I hope lots of people come out to vote.”
Our picture desk put together this gallery of the best of Davey’s antics over the last six weeks. The Liberal Democrats are hoping that gains for them, especially in the south-west of England, combined with a Labour squeeze on SNP seats in Scotland, might return the party to being the third-biggest in the House of Commons.
I wouldn’t exactly say that people had been clamouring for it, but there have been a few questions in the comments on here and on the Thursday quiz recently about whether you would get to see my dog Willow visiting a polling station today.
There are two issues. One, I’m clearly doing the live blog, which precludes me being out and about at the moment, and two, thanks to missing the AV referendum in 2011 when I was suddenly called away for work, I’ve had a postal vote for more than a decade.
However, do not despair. The moment has been prepared for. Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz, “helped” me post my vote a couple of weeks ago, and here she is doing it.
Willow “assists” in posting a vote in the 2024 general election. Photograph: Martin Belam/The Guardian
This also gives me an opportunity to shamelessly plug today’s Thursday quiz, which has just gone live.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has posted a picture of him with his wife Victoria on their way to vote with the message “Today, Britain’s future is on the ballot”
Labour have also posted a video urging people to go out and vote, saying “nothing is decided yet”. Using archive footage it mocks up the BBC’s David Dimbleby announcing at 10pm tonight that Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are the largest party according to the exit poll, and then cuts to a clip of Sunak celebrating during Euro 2024.
🚨 EXIT POLL 🚨
Imagine what it would feel like to see this at 10pm today.
Labour’s leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, has voted at Pollokshields Burgh Halls in Glasgow. He was accompanied by his wife Furheen, and son Aliyan. I think it is fair to say that the photo opportunity may have not gone entirely to plan. The family were photobombed by someone holding up a sign which read “Starmer is a snake”.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar with his wife Furheen, and son Aliyan at Pollokshields Burgh Halls in Glasgow. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
The SNP have posted an election day message video, with first minister John Swinney reiterating the party’s key messages at this election, calling for an end to the two-child benefit cap, and urging supporters to vote SNP to support “ending Westminster austerity”, “eradicating child poverty” and “rejoining the European Union as an independent country, because we are a country that proudly looks out.”
🏴 “I’m SNP for a future made in Scotland - because it’s up to the people who live in Scotland, and nobody else, to shape where we’re going.”
My colleague Robyn Vinter has been looking into just how some constituencies return their results so quickly on election night:
In most constituencies, counting the tens of thousands of votes cast during an election takes somewhere between five and eight hours, which means voters usually have to stay up very late or get up very early to discover the outcome.
Sunderland has held bragging rights for decades, being the quickest to declare at every general election between 1992 and 2015, and setting that record time of 10.42pm for Sunderland South in 2001.
The feat was described as a “military operation”, with the count masterminded by the returning officer Bill Crawford, who left Sunderland in 2015. Under his stewardship, ballot counters were sourced from local banks because of their speed with small bits of paper. And he would recruit sixth-formers from nearby schools, training them on how best to run with ballot boxes in their hands.
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