Britain goes to the polls in historic vote as Rishi Sunak casts ballot
4 July 2024, 07:00 | Updated: 4 July 2024, 08:21
Polling stations across the UK have opened as millions of voters have their say at the General Election after weeks of campaigning.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Polls opened at 7am and voters will have until 10pm to cast their ballots.
It is the first General Election where voters will need to show photographic ID before they can receive their ballot paper following a law change in 2022.
An exit poll, published shortly after 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.
The first of the 650 seats are likely to declare their results from 11.30pm.
- Join LBC for Britain Decides our election night coverage, starting Thursday at 10pm. Our flagship program will be led by Andrew Marr and Shelagh Fogarty, with The News Agents' Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall providing expert analysis as results unfold.
- This comprehensive seven-hour show will be broadcast live on LBC, Global Player, TikTok, and YouTube, with a simulcast on LBC News. Stay tuned for real-time updates and insightful commentary throughout this pivotal night in British politics.
Party leaders have made their final appeals to voters after touring the country since the election was called.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was the first leader to cast their vote on Thursday morning, arriving with wife Akshata Murty at a polling station in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.
Mr Sunak said Thursday represents a "pivotal moment" for the country's future as he claimed Labour would "wield their unchecked power" to increase taxes should they secure a "supermajority".
Mr Sunak said "morning" and waved at reporters as he entered Kirby Sigston Village Hall in Northallerton.
In his final stump speech on Wednesday evening, Mr Sunak said: "This underdog will fight to the final whistle."
The Prime Minister called on Tory activists to continue campaigning, claiming they had "urgent work to do" to "save the UK" from a Labour government.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the UK "cannot afford" five more years under the Conservatives, adding Britain can "begin a new chapter" under his party.
He said: "Britain's future is on the ballot."
Sir Keir was also cheered by activists as he spoke at a community centre in Redditch, Worcestershire, as his campaigning came to a close.
He said: "That's what we are fighting for, let's continue that fight.
"If you want change, you have to vote for it."
As the bookies' favourite to be the next prime minister, Sir Keir said he was pleased with Labour's campaign and his party was "ready for what comes next".
Ending a campaign that was dominated by headline-catching stunts, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey drove off in a pink Cadillac convertible with his deputy Daisy Cooper after his last election campaign stop.
The Lib Dem leader gave a stump speech at Hammond's End Farm in Harpenden to the tune of ABBA's Take A Chance On Me.
Sir Ed said he had enjoyed the campaign, which saw him travel the entire length of the UK, cover 6,000 miles on the Lib Dem's Yellow Hammer One bus and bungee 160 feet.
He added: "Communities are angry. The water companies have been allowed to pour their filthy sewage into our rivers, lakes and onto our beaches. This has to change. The Conservatives have got to go."
North of the border, Scotland's First Minister has urged "every single SNP voter" to turn out on Thursday in what he said will be an "incredibly close" contest throughout the country.
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 north of the border
