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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

May close to abandoning Brexit bill amid growing cabinet backlash – as it happened

Theresa May is under pressure to reveal the timetable of her departure. Photo by Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock
Theresa May is under pressure to reveal the timetable of her departure. Photo by Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock Photograph: Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock

Afternoon summary

  • Britons have been voting in European elections that were never expected to happen in the United Kingdom because the UK was supposed to be out of the EU by now. Nigel Farage’s new Brexit party is expected to win by a huge margin, in a result that will probably over-shadow other considerations in the forthcoming leadership contest, but the results will not be out until Sunday night.
  • Opposition parties have condemned the way some EU nationals have been prevented from voting because of administrative errors by councils. (See 4.13pm, 5.11pm and 5.50pm.)

That’s all from me for tonight - and until Monday 3 June. I’ll be away over half-term.

Colleagues will be looking after the blog tomorrow, on Sunday night and next week.

Thanks for the comments.

This is from ITV’s Robert Peston.

So it’s option 2. (See 4.42pm.)

Updated

The Lib Dems have also joined those criticising the way some EU nationals have been prevented from voting. This is from their home affairs spokesman, Sir Ed Davey.

It is an utter disgrace that so many EU citizens have been unable to vote in these historic elections. This feels like a deliberate attempt by the Conservatives to silence the voices of our fellow Europeans.

Here are some lines on Theresa May’s meetings earlier with Sajid Javid, the home secretary, and Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, both of whom have difficulty supporting the EU withdrawal agreement bill (Wab). They are from my colleague Rowena Mason, Sky’s Beth Rigby and the Telegraph’s Steven Swinford.

On the general issue of EU citizens being denied a vote today, Joanna Cherry, SNP spokesperson for justice and home affairs, said she was shocked and saddened by the “distress” of EU citizens denied a vote today.

I have been shocked, but sadly not surprised, by the reports coming in from across the country of electors being told they cannot take part in today’s vote.

Along with other parliamentary colleagues I have been warning the government about this since they faced up the fact that the UK would need to contest these elections. Yesterday at PMQs I asked prime minister to user her office to sort this out and make sure the UC1 form was available at polling stations. Her high-handed and dismissive response was typical of the Tory government’s approach to the rights of EU citizens.

It is particularly egregious to hear of some Irish citizens who do not need to complete this form at all being are also turned away today as well. This process has gone badly wrong.

Joanna Cherry
Joanna Cherry Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Updated

There is no escaping “Mr Stop Brexit”, aka the campaigner Steve Bray ...

Voters exit a polling station while activist and remain protester Steve Bray campaigns in London.
Voters exit a polling station while activist and remain protester Steve Bray campaigns in London. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The German couple who were denied a vote in the European parliament elections at the polling station this morning despite sending in their paperwork to register three weeks ago (see 12.47pm) have been contacted by Tower Hamlets council to tell them they can vote, after all.

In an extraordinary development the London borough council checked the CCTV footage at their offices for 2 May, the day Kat Sellner and Moritz Valero said they handed in their forms.

They have spent the last two days trying to persuade the council that it was their mistake that they had not received a ballot paper.

When they arrived at the polling station on the Isle of Dogs this morning they found their name was crossed off and were put in touch with the council again who told their paperwork didn’t arrive until 16 May, two weeks after the deadline.

In a phone call videoed by the Guardian they insisted again that was a council mistake and they would not be “silenced”. They warned they would make a freedom of information request for CCTV footage of 2 May.

Six hours later Tower Hamlets said they had phoned them with the “good news”. They had checked the CCTV footage and agreed that it was their mistake and told them could vote.

SNP MP Joanna Cherry who asked Theresa May yesterday over the general administrative failings to ensure EU citizens could vote today said it was a “grave and serious error” in electoral procedures.

She said May had been “dismissive” when she had asked her to ensure EU citizens could vote but she would not be letting the matter rest.

This is from Simon Cox, an immigration lawyer, for anyone who thinks their name has been left off the electoral role through a council error.

Theresa May arrived to vote at a polling station in Sonning, Berkshire, shortly after 4pm.

Although she stopped to say hello to schoolchildren in the playground next to Sonning C of E Primary school, Theresa May was rather less communicative with reporters and she kept a tight-lipped smile when asked by members of the press whether she was losing her grip on ministers.

After voting the PM and husband, Philip May, quickly strode back to a waiting car.

Theresa May and her husband Phillip voting in Sonning, Berkshire.
Theresa May and her husband Phillip voting in Sonning, Berkshire. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Updated

When will Theresa May resign? An analysis of her options

For the last 24 hours the dominant story at Westminster has been about how Theresa May is under increasing pressure to resign. But quite what is meant by resign is not always clear (sometimes even to those people calling for it). It is worth clarifying the options, not least because that helps to shed light on what may, or may not, happen when May meets Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, to discuss her future tomorrow.

First, it is important to remember that May has two important jobs; she is leader of the Conservative party and prime minister. The two, of course, are connected, but the current talk is about May resigning as Tory leader, triggering a leadership contest which would result in a new leader being elected who would then replace her as prime minister.

Theoretically May could resign as prime minister immediately. But prime ministers are not meant to resign until it is obvious who the Queen should appoint as a successor and, although there has been some talk of David Lidington taking over as an interim prime minister, there is no such job constitutionally, it is almost impossible to see what purpose this would serve, and the idea is being discounted in government circles.

And, second, to place the current events in context, you need to recall that we have already had three resignation-related announcements from May already.

1) In December last year May announced that she would resign before the general election due in 2022. She made the promise to Tories in private to help boost her chances in a no-confidence ballot, which she subsequently won. Whether she would resign ahead of the election if it took place before 2022 was left unresolved.

2) In March May announced that she would resign before the next phase of the Brexit negotiation started. She delivered the pledge, again at a private meeting of Tory MPs, ahead of the third vote on her Brexit deal. It was taken to mean she would go by the summer, assuming her deal was passed. What would happen if her deal was not passed was left unresolved, although subsequently the Conservative 1922 Committee said she needed to clarify this.

3) Last week, at her meeting with the executive of the 1922 Committee, May agreed to set a date for her departure after the second reading of the EU withdrawal agreement bill (Wab), which at that point the government was saying would take place on Friday 7 June at the latest. She did not say what the date would be, but the implication was that it would be soon after that 7 June deadline.

So, what are her options for tomorrow. Assuming that she is not going to do something very drastic, like resign immediately as prime minister, there are three obvious options.

1) She could announce that she is resigning as Conservative leader with immediate effect. This would not stop her serving as prime minister, but it would mean the Conservative party establishment – the 1922 Committee and the Conservative party board – would be able to set the timetable for the leadership contest. The key point about this is that May would no longer be in charge of determining when she left office because that would be whenever the contest ended.

2) She could announce that she intended to quit by a specific date in the future; ie, she could draft a post-dated resignation letter. In practice this would have much the same impact – the Conservative party would be able to start drawing up the timetable for the contest – but this would leave May with the option of changing her mind in the future. To be plausible she would probably have to commit to going by about Monday 10 June (one date set as a possible deadline), but Tories might be worried about the prospect of her going back on her promise.

3) She could set a deadline for making a firm announcement. Given May’s habit of postponing difficult decisions, you can see why this might appeal. But this would just be a deadline for a deadline, and little more than what she agreed with the 1922 Committee last week. It is hard to see how the committee would view this acceptable, and this would probably trigger a new no-confidence vote. (See 11.02am.)

As I write, it is not obvious what May will do – which might be a symptom of journalistic uselessness, but which might also be because those around her do not know because May herself is not sure or hasn’t decided.

It is also the case that May’s fate is tied up with the fate of the Wab. If she thinks she can resurrect it, she will be reluctant to fire the starting gun on the leadership contest. If she can’t, there is no good reason to postpone the inevitable.

Updated

Cat Smith, the shadow minister for voter engagement, has said the government is to blame for EU nationals having problems voting. In a statement she said:

We repeatedly warned the government that European citizens living in the UK would be denied their right to vote because of its incompetent approach to Brexit.

From day one, the Tories have buried their heads in the sand about these elections, even at the eleventh hour when it was clear that the government’s botched Brexit deal would not pass.

This has caused havoc for electoral administrators tasked with delivering a national poll with extremely short notice.

Labour pointed out on multiple occasions that EU citizens needed more time to return their declaration forms to ensure they can exercise their democratic right to vote. The government is solely to blame for this chaos.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, says it it outrageous that EU nationals are being denied the right to vote.

Here is a variant on #dogsatpollingstations.

A horse stands outside a polling station, set up in a pub, as its rider votes in the European Parliament elections, near Tonbridge, south east England.
A horse stands outside a polling station, set up in a pub, as its rider votes in the European Parliament elections, near Tonbridge, south east England. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

This is from the3million, the campaign representing EU nationals in the UK, for any EU nationals who have been denied a vote today.

Gavin Williamson backs Boris Johnson for Tory leader

Gavin Williamson, the former defence secretary, has formally announced that he is backing Boris Johnson for next Conservative leader. He told his local paper, the Express & Star:

I think he’s the best candidate.

He’s the one who can deliver change for both the Conservative Party and the country.

I will be enthusiastically backing him and very much hope I can play a small role in making sure that his name is the one that the party chooses as leader.

The bottom line is that the only person who can deliver Brexit and defeat Labour is Boris Johnson.

The reference to playing “a small role” in the Johnson campaign will provoke wry smile in Tory circles. Williamson was not a great success as defence secretary, but he was rated as a chief whip and some people regard him as the best backroom fixer/organiser in the Conservative party. He played a leading role in Theresa May’s campaign in 2016.

His endorsement will be valuable to Johnson, not just because of the skills he can bring to the campaign, but because he is seen as someone with a track record for hitching up with the winning candidate. After Williamson, other Tories may feel more inclined to join the bandwagon too.

Gavin Williamson
Gavin Williamson Photograph: Imageplotter/REX/Shutterstock

Michael Gove, the Brexiter environment secretary, has been tweeting his support for the Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, the lead Conservative candidate in the south east region. Gove says Hannan has done more than anyone “to ensure the UK becomes an independent nation again” (which may come as a surprise to anyone who thought it wasn’t an independent nation).

An army veteran in his 80s acting as a teller for the Brexit party had a milkshake thrown over him outside a polling station in Aldershot, the Telegraph reports.

The broadcaster Piers Morgan is among those speaking up for him on Twitter.

It wouldn’t be a proper election without #dogsatpollingstations. Here is a selection that have caught my eye.

Here is the SNP’s Pete Wishart commenting on the government’s announcement that it cannot confirm that the EU withdrawal agreement bill second reading will go ahead in the first week of June. (See 11.22am.) He said:

The decision to shelve the damaging withdrawal agreement bill has confirmed beyond any doubt that this Tory government is in a state of paralysis, completely dysfunctional and unable to get on with the day job.

Rather than seeking a way to end the Brexit impasse, the Tories have instead kicked the can further down the road.

This is the final humiliation for Theresa May, who surely cannot remain in office much longer.

Lunchtime summary

  • Theresa May has bowed to pressure from backbenchers and cabinet ministers and abandoned plans to publish her controversial EU withdrawal agreement bill (Wab) tomorrow. She triggered a ferocious backlash in her party on Tuesday when she announced that the bill would include plans to give MPs a vote on holding a second referendum and on a temporary customs union, and this has intensified calls for her to announce that she will resign. Yesterday No 10 said the bill would be published on Friday, and that it would get its second reading vote in the week beginning Monday 3 June. But today the government announced that publication has been delayed until the first week of June, and a minister had to admit that it is now possible that the second reading won’t take place that week after all. (See 11.22am.) The news has heightened speculation that the bill will eventually be abandoned, although May is in talks with cabinet colleagues about whether it could be rescued via a rewrite. The fate of the bill is inextricably linked to her survival as prime minister because last week she agreed with the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee to postpone any announcement about when she will stand down until after the bill’s second reading. Any decision to kill the bill would leave her with no excuse not to resign as Conservative leader immediately, triggering the leadership contest that will choose her successor as PM.
  • May has appointed Mel Stride as leader of the Commons in a mini reshuffle prompted by the resignation yesterday of Andrea Leadsom. (See 1.18pm.)

Updated

Theresa May has left Downing Street and is heading for her Maidenhead constituency, the Press Association reports.

Theresa May’s convoy leaving Downing Street
Theresa May’s convoy leaving Downing Street. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Updated

People leaving Leeds Minster, converted into a polling station for the day.
People leaving Leeds Minster, converted into a polling station for the day. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

A man walks past a polling station as voting for the European Parliament elections got underway, in west Belfast, Northern Ireland
A man walks past a polling station as voting for the European Parliament elections got underway, in west Belfast, Northern Ireland Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

The appointment of Mel Stride to the cabinet, as the new leader of the Commons, will be seen as a discreet boost to Michael Gove, the environment secretary, who is a candidate to succeed Theresa May. Stride has reportedly been campaigning on behalf of Gove although, according to a recent report in the Sunday Times (paywall), he has been so discreet about it that some MPs got the impression he was running himself. Here is an extract from a story Gabriel Pogrund and Tim Shipman wrote earlier this year.

Mel Stride, a Treasury minister, has hosted dinners at his home in recent weeks during which he has made the case for Gove, gathering a cadre of supporters from different wings of the party should he decide to run.

The role of Stride, who runs the Deep Blue group of traditional Tories, as a cheerleader for Gove was so shrouded in secrecy that some MPs believed he was running for leader himself.

Stride further muddied the waters by hosting a dinner a week ago on behalf of the leadership team of Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary.

Mel Stride becomes leader of Commons in mini reshuffle

Downing Street has just announced

Mel Stride, the Treasury minister, will become leader of the Commons.

Jesse Norman, the transport minister, will replace Stride as financial secretary to the Treasury and paymaster general.

Michael Ellis, a culture minister, replaces Norman as transport minister.

And Rebecca Pow joins the government, replacing Ellis as culture minister.

Official portrait of Mel Stride
Official portrait of Mel Stride Photograph: Wikipedia

Margaritis Schinas, the European commission’s chief spokesman, has posted a tweet saying that a video promoted by a pro-unionist Twitter account from Northern Ireland contains a quote falsely attributed to Martin Selmayr, the secretary general of the EU Commission. The video claims Selmayr said Northern Ireland was “the price to pay for Brexit”. Selmary has denied saying that, and Schinas said the claim was being “spread maliciously”.

The Twitter account has no name attached to it and just describes itself as “promoting the positive benefits of NI’s membership of the UK”.

Updated

During an urgent question in the Commons earlier Caroline Dinenage, the care minister, apologised on behalf of the NHS for the abuse of people with learning disabilities and autism at the specialist hospital Whorlton Hall. The abuses were exposed in a harrowing report by an undercover reporter working for the BBC’s Panorama which has led to a police investigation, 16 staff being suspended and the hospital being closed.

Dinenage said:

On behalf of the health and care system, I am deeply sorry that this has happened.

She said the actions revealed by the Panorama programme were “quite simply appalling” and that the government would look at whether criminality was involved, whether the regulatory framework was working and whether oversight was fit for purpose. She told MPs:

Where it is essential that somebody has to be supported at distance from their home, we will make sure that those arrangements are supervised.

We won’t tolerate having people out of sight and out of mind. Where someone with a learning disability or an autistic person has to be an inpatient out of area, they will be now visited every six weeks if they are a child or every eight weeks if they are an adult.

Caroline Dinenage
Caroline Dinenage Photograph: Caroline Dineage

EU nationals complain about being not allowed to vote through administrative errors

There are a lot of reports on social media of EU nationals being denied a vote in today’s European elections.

EU nationals can vote in the UK in European elections. They have to register, like UK nationals. But they also have to fill in a form, known as the UC1 or EC6 form, saying they will only be voting in the UK, and not in other EU countries.

Local authorities have to process these forms. But, as my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reported on Tuesday, there have been reports that in some areas this has not been happening properly.

Lisa has met EU nationals today being denied the right to vote and she has asked people with similar stories to get in touch.

The pro-European campaigner Gina Miller is also asking people affected to get in touch.

And on Twitter some people are sharing their experiences using the hashtag #DeniedMyVote. Here is an example, from Agata Patyna, a barrister.

The Evening Standard has more examples here.

Updated

Margot James, the digital minister, has said Theresa May is being hounded out of office. Speaking to the Press Association after an event in London, she said:

It’s all very regrettable but she’s being hounded out of office because parliament will not make a decision and the parties just have an inability to compromise. But in the end there’s got to be a compromise.

Theresa May is due to appoint a new leader of the Commons today, Number 10 has said.

Nigel Farage arriving to cast his vote in the European elections at a polling station in Biggin Hill, Kent
Nigel Farage arriving to cast his vote in the European elections at a polling station in Biggin Hill, Kent Photograph: Vickie Flores/EPA

This is what Valerie Vaz, the shadow leader of the Commons, said in the chamber earlier about the government’s decision not to publish the EU withdrawal agreement bill tomorrow. (See 11.22am.) She said:

Yesterday the prime minister told the house that the second reading of the withdrawal agreement bill would be in the week commencing June 3rd, now we hear it’s not, so in less than 24 hours the prime minister has broken her word. This is yet another broken promise by the prime minister on Brexit.

Updated

The prime minister’s official spokesman told journalists at the morning lobby briefing that Theresa May would be meeting cabinet colleagues to discuss the EU withdrawal agreement bill today, the Press Association reports.

“The prime minister is listening to her colleagues about the bill and will be having further discussions,” he said.

He could not say when the bill would be published and refused to be drawn on speculation about May’s future as PM.

The spokesman also confirmed that US president Donald Trump’s state visit would go ahead in June.

Updated

And these are from the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.

This is from the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner.

May shelves plans to publish EU withdrawal agreement bill amid growing cabinet backlash against it

In response to a question from Labour’s Valerie Vaz, Mark Spencer, the government whip, has just clarified two points about the EU withdrawal agreement bill (Wab).

  • Spencer said the Wab would now be published in the week beginning Monday 3 June. That is the second time this week it has been postponed. Yesterday morning Michael Gove, the environment secretary, said it would be published later that day. Then, in the afternoon, Theresa May said it would be published tomorrow. Spencer’s admission that publication has been postponed until June will increase suspicions that, in practice, it will never be published at all. May is under huge pressure to abandon the bill because it is so unpopular with backbenchers and ministers, and seems doomed to defeat.
  • Spencer said that the government was hoping to hold the second reading debate of the Wab on Friday 7 June but that it could not get announcement yet because it could not get agreement through “the usual channels”. That implies Labour are refusing to agree to get the Commons to sit on Friday when it was meant to be in recess.
Mark Spencer
Mark Spencer Photograph: HoC

Updated

Government refuses to confirm EU withdrawal agreement vote will be held in first week of June

Mark Spencer, a government whip, is now announcing the government business in the Commons.

He has just announced the business for the week beginning Monday 3 June. Although Downing Street has said the second reading of the EU withdrawal agreement bill (Wab) would take place that week, and Tory MPs were told yesterday that that would happen on Friday 7 June, Spencer did not include the Wab in the list of business for that week. And he said the house would not be sitting on the Friday.

He said the government would “update the house on the publication and introduction of the withdrawal agreement bill on our return from the Whit Sunday recess [on Tuesday 4 June]”.

That implies the Wab will not be published tomorrow, as Theresa May said it would.

  • Ministers have shelved their plans to debate the EU withdrawal agreement bill in the first week of June. The second reading debate was not included in the list of business announced by the government for next week. That does not mean it definitely will not take place, but it does mean the government is not able to confirm it now.
  • The government appears to have abandoned plans to publish the bill tomorrow.

Updated

1922 Committee will hold no-confidence vote in May if she does not announce resignation date tomorrow, says senior Tory

An earlier post said that Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, has said the committee will hold a no-confidence vote in Theresa May if she does not announce a resignation date tomorrow.

Sorry. That was my mistake. The quote was from Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the 1922 Committee. He told the Press Association this morning that when he meets Theresa May tomorrow, he will expect her to give a timetable for her departure. And she could announce her decision to quit tomorrow, Brady said. He told PA:

I want her to give a timetable for when she will go. I think this blank denial from Number 10 today may be a smokescreen because she does not want to influence the outcome of the European elections. Maybe she will still quit tomorrow.

Asked what would happen if the PM did not announce a resignation date, Clifton-Brown said:

I think there will be overwhelming pressure for the 22 to change the rules and hold a ballot on confidence in the prime minister.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Photograph: Sky News

Updated

Here’s Sky’s Beth Rigby on the current state of play in No 10, and whether or not the EU withdrawal agreement bill will ever see the light of day.

Updated

We’re in a situation at the moment where the fact that a cabinet minister says they are not resigning counts as news - or, at least, something noteworthy. Michael Gove, the Brexiter environment secretary, is not quitting, the BBC’s Norman Smith reports.

At the Nato event where he was speaking this morning, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, also refused to say what he would be telling Theresa May today about the EU withdrawal agreement bill. This is from the BBC’s Norman Smith.

It is understood that he is one of several cabinet ministers raising concerns about the bill, and in particular about the provision in it for a vote on a second referendum.

Theresa May will still be PM when President Trump visits the week after next, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, has said. This is from the Telegraph’s Jack Maidment.

This is not a surprise, but it is probably worth clarifying. Those in the Conservative party who want Theresa May to resign now are not asking for her to leave office immediately. They want her to resign as Conservative party leader, so that the party can start the leadership contest. It is widely agreed that she will stay as PM until the party has elected a new leader, which would not be until the end of July at the earliest. As prime minister, she cannot resign until she is in a position to tell the Queen who she should appoint as a successor.

(Well, in theory she could, but it would not be the done thing ...)

Updated

There was no sign of Andrea Leadsom outside her Westminster home on Thursday morning, the Press Association reports. Her husband, Ben Leadsom, stopped on his bicycle to tell reporters: “It was a tough day yesterday, but she’s happy she made the right decision.” He said he could not comment when asked whether the MP for South Northamptonshire would run for leadership of the Conservative party.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, and her husband, the SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, leaving a polling station at Broomhouse Park Community Hall in Glasgow after casting their votes
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, and her husband, the SNP chief executive, Peter Murrell, leaving a polling station at Broomhouse Park community hall in Glasgow after casting their votes. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Updated

If you want information about the candidates in your area, or where you can vote, the Who Can I Vote For? website is helpful.

This is from the Tory MP Sir David Evennett.

What has changed for Theresa May in the last 24 hours or so is that MPs in the mainstream of the party, who have generally been supportive of her up to now, have joined those calling for her to resign. Evennett is a good example. He voted remain in the 2016 referendum and, although he voted against May’s deal in the first Commons vote, he supported it in the second two. He is not someone who has been publicly speaking out against her in the past.

Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, and his wife Rachel Smith arriving at a polling station to vote.
Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, and his wife, Rachel Smith, arriving at a polling station to vote. Photograph: Peter Summers/Getty Images

Updated

Penny Mordaunt, the defence secretary, is reportedly one of the cabinet ministers who has told Theresa May she is unhappy about the plan to include a provision for a vote on a second referendum in the EU withdrawal agreement bill (Wab). This morning, asked about this, she told reporters:

I have given my advice to No 10 and today I am going to be getting on with my job which is to keep the country safe and look after our armed forces.

Penny Mourdant
Penny Mourdant Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Updated

This is from Labour whips, an official account.

This refers to a report that Paul Maynard, a government whip, told Theresa May during a private meeting that her Brexit strategy risked destroying the Conservative party.

Jeremy Corbyn and his wife, Laura Alvarez, leaving the polling station at Pakeman primary school in Holloway, London.
Jeremy Corbyn and his wife, Laura Alvarez, leaving the polling station at Pakeman primary school in Holloway, London. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Updated

Usual request for an election day: if you are posting a comment below the line (BTL), please do not tell us how you voted. Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, it is an offence to publish, while the polls are still open, any information about how people have voted based on “information given by voters after they have voted”. This law is designed to stop on-day polling influencing the results, but the lawyers say it covers comments from individuals too, and so please desist.

(But if you were to tell us that you expect party X to do very well, that would not be a problem.)

Britons have started voting in the European elections. The polling stations opened about two hours ago and, as usual, they will stay open until 10pm. But, because most other EU countries do not vote until Sunday, the votes will not be counted until Sunday night.

These are elections, of course, that were never meant to happen, because the UK was supposed to leave the EU in March. But despite being unwanted and unexpected, the results could be more consequential than the results of any other European elections in the UK’s history. According to opinion polls, Nigel Farage’s Brexit party is on course to a win by a huge margin - much more than the two points by which Ukip, which he was then leading, beat Labour in 2014. And some polls have the Tories heading for fifth place. At the very least this is bound to have a considerable influence on what happens in the forthcoming Conservative leadership contest, although Farage claims he could even tear down the two-party political system.

The fact that Britain is voting will give Theresa May some respite from the intensifying calls for her resignation - mainly because, while polls are open, there are limits to what broadcasters can report. But that does not meant the pressure is going away. As we report in our overnight story (see below), following the resignation of Andrea Leadsom, May is under pressure to make an announcement about the timing of her departure imminently.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.05am: Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, speaks at a Nato cyber defence conference.

10.30am: Business statement in the Commons. Normally Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, would be giving it, but following her resignation Mark Spencer, a whip, is due to take her place.

3.30pm: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, speaks at a King’s Fund conference.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary when I wrap up at the end of the day.

You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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