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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Chris Johnston, Matthew Weaver and Damien Gayle

UK elections 2016: last hours of voting – as it happened

Ballot boxes are carried as Edinburgh council staff deliver signage and materials for the Scottish Parliament Election.
Ballot boxes are carried as Edinburgh council staff deliver signage and materials for the Scottish parliamentary elections. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

As the polls prepare to close across the UK, we are wrapping up this live blog and handing over to our political correspondent Andrew Sparrow with a brand new live blog. He will be here until the wee hours of Friday with every result, twist and turn as they break. Thanks for reading.

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Guardian political editor Heather Stewart tweets:

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We’re on the downward slide to polls closing - just 30 minutes to go. And remember, if you’re still waiting in line to vote when the clock strikes 10, you still get to cast a ballot.

One of the first things to be established very early on as the ballot boxes are opened in Northern Ireland on Friday morning will be turnout. Back in 1998, just months after the historic Good Friday Agreement, there was huge enthusiasm for the restoration of devolution to the post-Troubles traumatised region.

The first election turnout to a revived cross-community assembly since 1974 was huge – 70% of the electorate voted. Yet the trend after the post-Good Friday Agreement peace deal reflected diminishing faith in the political process. In 2003, the next devolved assembly elections turnout was still a respectable 63%.

Voters enter at a polling station in Sydenham, east Belfast, earlier today.
Voters enter at a polling station in Sydenham, east Belfast, earlier today. Photograph: David Young/PA

Four years later turnout fell to 62%. However, in the last Stormont assembly election battle only 54% voted. The dip in voter participation reflected a growing disillusionment with the political arrangement held up as a shining example of peace process politics around the world. Turnout tomorrow therefore will in itself be a story – particularly if it was to fall below 50%.

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Both the Conservative and Labour candidates for London mayor, Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan, are still tweeting away with just under an hour to go until the polls close in the capital.

Chuka Umunna, former business secretary and Labour MP for Streatham, is still out and about in south London campaigning for every last vote.

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The polling station at Southgate West community centre in Crawley.
The polling station at Southgate West community centre in Crawley.

The sun is setting in Southgate ward in Crawley, where three council seats are up for re-election. Here is one of two seats lost by Labour in 2015, when the party’s majority was cut to just one councillor.

Voters at the polling station at Southgate West community centre say they have been bombarded with leaflets through their letterbox. “Especially the Tories,” says Surinder Sagoo, 51, who came to the polling station with her two daughters. “But I didn’t realise it was so close here.”

Sagoo says it is national issues, such as the NHS and the junior doctors’ strike, that affected the way she chose to vote. “I voted for the lesser of two evils here I think,” she said. “One local issue is the hospital and the closure of the A&E department. Now we have to travel a long way to get to a hospital. That’s something which would affect which party I choose.”

The family always vote together: “Voting is really important, if you don’t use it, then you can’t say you don’t like something.”

Her daughter Meenisha, 26, said her parents had instilled in her that sense of responsibility: “We’ve always voted since we were first able to; they’d never force me to vote, but I always would.”

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Aside from Cannock Chase, some other potentially key Midlands councils to watch tonight include:
• Walsall: A minority Tory administration holds control, but Labour hopes of success here face competition also from Ukip, which is contesting 13 of the seats today.
• Solihull: Another of a number of West Midlands metropolitan councils where up to a third of its seats are up for grabs. Tory controlled, the official opposition comes from the Green party.
• Nuneaton and Bedworth: An area where all three MPs are Tory, but the council is Labour controlled. The latter need to demonstrate that they are still the dominant force at a local level.

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LSE Democratic Dashboard

As we head into the final two hours of polling, the LSE’s Democratic Dashboard might prove useful. It offers interactive details on all the elections being held today, who is standing - and when a result it expected.

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How many families are there like this up and down the UK? I’ve been chatting to a couple ahead of casting their votes in the Midlands district council area of Cannock Chase – something of a bellwether.

Clive and Cheryl Aanansen are divided on Europe as well as domestic politics. He’s a trade unionist and supporter of one party, she is a staunch backer of another and a voter who still can’t forgive Labour for, as she put it, “spending all the money and leaving this mess behind”.

Yet they were united on what they regarded as the most burning issue in their local ward: dog fouling. “It’s about people just having respect for one another,” said Cheryl, as her husband nodded. Another thing we both feel very strongly about is the antisocial behaviour. It’s a nice area, but some young people really don’t behave sometimes.”

National issues were factors in how they voted – though somewhat distant ones. As for Clive’s view of the Labour leadership, he added: “To be honest I don’t really like Jeremy Corbyn, and while I might think about swaying towards the Tories I’ll probably stick with Labour.”

Both also believe that it is in areas like their own that Labour needs to be performing strongly if the party hopes to have any chance of success in the next national election.

While the roads leading up to their polling station was a leafy one, for example, with new Mercedes and BMWs sitting behind gated gardens, Cannock’s broader bellwether status is underlined by other mixed demographics, which include pockets of urban deprivation, traditional Labour strongholds with their roots in coal mining, as well as affluent Staffordshire villages.

At a Westminster level, Cannock Chase is a semi-marginal Tory seat, having been a surprise gain for the Conservatives in 2010. Previously it was a safe Labour seat during the 1997, 2001 and 2005 contests.

Increasingly, the area has also emerged as an affluent commuter area for the West Midlands area to its south. Is the Labour party’s message getting through to those voters?

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The sun’s been shining all day in the north-east coastal town of Hartlepool, a key target for Nigel Farage’s Ukip as I explained earlier. With three hours left to vote, the Ukippers are in confident mood. Jonathan Arnott, the party’s regional MEP, has tweeted:

Has Labour’s ship sailed in Hartlepool? Is HMS Ukip steaming in to harbour? Is Captain Farage making waves? Who knows, but what’s certain is that political metaphors should be avoided at all costs.

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Rotherham council up for re-election

Rotherham town centre
Rotherham town centre Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Tomorrow will see the whole of the Rotherham metropolitan borough council re-elected after a turbulent few years for the town.

In response to a scathing report into the handling of the child sexual exploitation scandal, which declared the council “not fit for purpose”, power was taken away from the town’s elected officials and put in the hands of government commissioners. Although some powers will be handed back after this election, councillors will still only control around a third of the local authority’s budget.

Local elections in May 2014 saw Ukip become the official opposition to Labour on Rotherham’s council and Nigel Farage has predicted that his party could become the biggest party in the town. Ukip holds 12 of the council’s 63 seats, compared with Labour’s 43.

Local MP Sarah Champion says that public anger over the handling of the child sex abuse scandal has subsided somewhat, but admits that Ukip could still win about a third of council seats.

“I think they’ll do well because people have got three votes this time,” she says. “I think if there was only one vote, then people would vote for Labour, but as there are three I think a lot of people will probably [put two crosses] for Labour and one for another party. And the main ‘other’ is Ukip in our area.”

Sarah Champion MP at her constituency office in Rotherham.
Sarah Champion MP at her constituency office in Rotherham. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

However, Ukip’s campaign has not been as strong as in previous years, Champion says. “From what I’ve seen there’s been hardly any [Ukip] literature in windows, people haven’t had stuff through their letter boxes. I’ve not seen any teams out. It feels more as though they’ve sort of moved on.”

The MP has spent the day going around polling stations and says that, despite the glorious sunshine, the initial signs are that turnout has been “ridiculously low”. At one of the polling stations she visited earlier today only 30 people had turned up to vote out of a possible 900.

“Some people will vote by post, but we know as of last week that the postal vote turnout was very low as well,” she says. “So I think it will be a very, very low turnout, unless something dramatic happens.”

Updated

Thanks to my colleague Damien Gayle for keeping us up to date with all the election developments for the past couple of hours. Chris Johnston here taking over for more live coverage – stay with us.

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#VoteConservative is trending on Twitter! But not in a way that Tory central office will appreciate. This tweet from George Webster captures the mood:

Here are some of the best contributions from the past couple of hours:

Libby Brooks, Scotland correspondent, has snapped a few of the front pages from today’s papers north of the border. It seems the pro-independence the National has gone full cult of personality with this image of Nicola Sturgeon superimposed over a Scottish flag, with the backdrop of a bright new dawn over a Scottish skyline.

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Early evening summary

It seems like a good time for another roundup. If you’re just joining us, and perhaps preparing to go and cast your vote, then just pray that you’re not registered in Barnet...

  • Voters, including the chief rabbi, have been turned away from polling stations in Barnet because of major errors with the electoral register that could affect the result of the London mayoral contest. Barnet council has apologised after it emerged that its 155 polling stations had only been given partial registers, meaning hundreds, if not thousands, of voters were unable to cast their ballot between about 7am and 9am.
  • Labour’s London assembly candidate for Barnet and Camden, Andrew Dismore, is compiling a dossier on the problems at polling stations in Barnet this morning. He is urging voters who were refused a vote to email him at andrew@andrewdismore.org.uk. Please say the time you went to the polling station, what you were told by staff and whether you took your polling card.
  • Barnet council is offering voters who were turned away this morning an “emergency proxy vote”. But you’ve got to be fast. In its latest statement on the voting shambles the council said: “You will need to complete an application form and return the form by 5pm today.”
  • Barnet, which has outsourced most of its council services, is facing mounting criticism for the shambles and possible legal action. Labour is threatening a legal challenge if the mayoral or assembly votes are close. The Liberal Democrats have called for a public inquiry. Sophie Walker, the candidate for the Women’s Equality party, who lives in Barnet, said she had already registered a complaint.
  • Most of the leaders of the main parties cast their votes early. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, smiled and declared he was feeling “very happy” as he arrived at his local primary school to cast his vote. The prime minister, David Cameron, urged voters to back the Tories after casting his vote with his wife, Samantha.
  • Corbyn’s claim that Labour will not lose seats in council elections but is instead seeking to make gains was misinterpreted, according to his official spokesman. The aide said his leader’s comment – “We are not going to lose seats, we are looking to gain seats where we can” – should not be taken as a prediction of what might happen.
  • Matt Drudge, the rightwing American news aggregator, has used his website to make a racially charged attack on Sadiq Khan, describing the Labour London mayor candidate as the “first Muslim mayor of Londonistan”. Twitter users were not impressed.
  • Anti-monarchy campaigners have launched petitions calling on the new Welsh assembly and Scottish parliament to pledge allegiance to the people they represent, rather than the Queen. Graham Smith, Republic’s chief executive, said: “When we witness democracy in action, voters across Wales and the rest of the UK freely choosing their representatives, it is galling to think we still pledge allegiance to a monarch.”
  • Incomplete registers in Brent are not the only things stopping people from voting. Mehala Osborne, from Bristol, was denied the chance to register because she’s currently living in a refuge. After quizzing officials she believes 70% of women in refuges in her city – and potentially across the country – could be in the same situation. She’s started a petition to raise awareness of the situation.

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More on the racism rows that have rocked British politics in the lead-up to today’s election, from the Guardian’s political correspondent, Rowena Mason:

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, has accused David Cameron of failing to tackle racism in the Conservatives while whipping up fury about antisemitism in Labour.

McCluskey claimed offensive comments made by Tory MPs, councillors and candidates rarely resulted in serious disciplinary action, while Labour had taken swift and thorough action when allegations had come to light.

The union published a dossier of dozens of allegedly racist incidents involving Conservatives on Thursday, after a fortnight in which Labour revealed it had had to suspend 18 members for possible antisemitic remarks. These include the Bradford West MP Naz Shah, who has apologised, and the former London mayor Ken Livingstone.

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After speculation that the good weather might boost turnout in today’s elections, there are rumours that the sun has had the opposite effect. Jim Pickard, chief political correspondent on the FT, has tweeted this:

Just in case you fancied some pictures from out in the sun (and one of some rubbish), here are some Guardian reader views from polling stations up and down the country in London.

The ball is now in the voters' court...

Such a welcoming environment !

All political eyes are on the bellwether towns today, where local election results often predict swing in the quinquennial elections to Westminster. My colleague Jessica Elgot has been spending the day in Crawley.

Tilgate, south-east of Crawley town centre, is one of the most closely contested wards in this competitive town. On the road where Peter Lamb, leader of the council, is organising Labour volunteers in a home covered with Labour posters, three houses down the windows are decked in Tory blue.

Why’s Crawley such an important council to win for the two main parties? “Firstly because it’s our home,” Lamb says.

“Secondly because Crawley tends to go the same way as the country in a general election. People see it as a signal. For Labour, it’s particularly significant because it’s the south-east, outside the party’s comfort zone.”

Biscuits, cakes and election literature lie on a table inside the Labour party’s Tilgate HQ
Biscuits, cakes and campaign literature on a table inside the Labour party’s Tilgate HQ Photograph: Jessica Elgot for the Guardian

The town has low unemployment and a high level of industry being so close to the airport but that can mask significant levels of inequality, with two-thirds of the workforce commuting into the town, and house prices rising. The town has the lowest social mobility in the south-east, Lamb says.

“For many years it was a strong Labour council while the Tories were in government, and one of the places where you would see the starkest split in voting, people voted Labour for the council and Conservative in the general, because they like the local services,” Lamb says.

There are two seats up for grabs here in Tilgate, currently one Conservative, one Labour, but the Labour councillor is retiring and Carlos Castro, the co-chair of the local residents’ association, is hoping to take his place on the council after the vote tonight.

“The area has been solidly Labour, an older generation, but it has changed in recent years.”

Every issue he hears on the doorstep is local. “Parking is what you hear about, we are a new town which wasn’t built to cope with the cars. I’m always put on the spot about that, what you going to do about parking?!”

‘This election is very important’ – Carlos Castro, Labour candidate for Tilgate

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Drudge attacked for racially charged Khan headline

Matt Drudge, the rightwing American news aggregator, has used his website to make this racially charged attack on Labour London mayor candidate Sadiq Khan.

The US’s rightwing news aggregator Matt Drudge has announced that Sadiq Khan is the “first Muslim mayor of Londonistan”

It comes after Khan’s chief rival, Zac Goldsmith, and Goldsmith’s Tory cohorts were accused of trying to play up Khan’s religion in an effort to turn voters away from Labour.

The headline also recycles old [and false] claims, made in the US and elsewhere, that London is becoming a predominantly Muslim city. Twitter users were not impressed.

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A break from the polling stations now, with news just in from Severin Carrell, our Scotland editor, that a judge has given pro-independence campaigners who set up an unauthorised camp in the grounds of the Scottish parliament last November another chance to argue against their eviction.

The IndyCamp People’s Vigil for Scotland’s Independence have been given another chance to argue against their eviction.
The IndyCamp People’s Vigil for Scotland’s Independence have been given another chance to argue against their eviction. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

In an interim ruling issued on election day, Lord Turnbull, sitting in the court of session in Edinburgh, rejected claims by the so-called IndyCamp protesters that their right to squat there was based on historic legal documents.

But the judge said he wanted another hearing to make sure that evicting them was proportional or necessary; the Scottish parliament has insisted they have no permission to be there, are using space which should be open to all and were compromising its neutrality.

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Labour’s performance in the Midlands – where Ed Miliband picked up dozens of council seats during a high watermark for his leadership in 2012 – will be closely watched tonight, writes Ben Quinn, who is in Cannock Chase.

It includes the contest in what is widely regarded as something of a bellwether for the national picture, Cannock Chase District Council, where 13 of its 41 seats are up for grabs.

Labour currently holds power with 22 seats, and while its local activists are quietly confident, Ukip is looking to build on the five it holds after emerging in recent years locally. A good performance for the Tories, who have 11 seats, in addition to a challenge from the Greens could potentially result in Labour losing control if it’s a bad night for the party.

That said, activists of different stripes insist that national issues such as the Labour’s antisemitism controversy are far from being hot issues on the door steps.

“If anything it’s about pot holes and in my ward and we’ve been trying to ensure that voters are aware of the distinction between us and the Tory-held county council, who have responsibility for them,” said John Preece, a Labour councillor for the ward of Norton Canes.

While Preece says that he supported Liz Kendall in the Labour leadership contest, he adds many core supporters have been motivated by Corbyn, who recently visited Cannock on one of his trips outside of London.

“What he says about austerity for example is like nectar to a lot of our voters.”

Issues aside, Preece predicted that the sunny weather would be a particular help in bringing out Labour supporters.

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Incomplete registers in Brent and other polling station mistakes are not the only things stopping people from voting today. Some problems are structural.

Mehala Osborne, a mother-of-one from Bristol, has been denied the chance to register because she’s currently living in a refuge after escaping domestic abuse.

She told the Guardian that it’s taken her six months of questioning all the services to even understand why. After quizzing officials she believes 70% of women in refuges in her city – and potentially across the country – could be in the same situation. She said:

There’s a way to register anonymously, however to have that registration you have to have it signed off by someone in the police or adult social services. In my case I left the abuse quite quickly and didn’t have enough evidence to get either of those.

I’ve spoken to the local police and the management of the refuge, and they said about 70% of women here wouldn’t have enough [evidence] to have it signed off. So that’s hundreds here [in Bristol] and thousands nationally.

I’ve never been overly political but this election is quite important to me because I have got a campaign going about housing.

Osborne has started a petition on 38 Degrees to raise awareness of the disenfranchisement of women in refuges. She says the problem is not a new one, and the fix would be easy enough for a government to achieve, if it was willing.

It’s a national thing that Women’s Aid have been trying to sort out for about a year. It’s such a simple fix: all it needs is the government to say that safe house or refuge management-level staff can sign the form as well.

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This graphic by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows how people’s likelihood of voting correlated with their economic situation at the 2010 election.

As Alvin Scarpio, JRF’s public affairs chap, points out: “The poorer you are, the less likely you are to vote.” And, by implication, the more likely any elected politicians are to ignore your interests.

Earlier we reported that Republic, the anti-monarchy group, had launched a petition calling for the new Welsh assembly to swear allegiance to the people of their country, rather than the Queen.

The group has a similar campaign in place for the new Scottish parliament. The petition, hosted on 38 Degrees, says:

It’s one of the great ironies of our political system that our democratically elected representatives are forced to swear allegiance to an unelected monarch.

It’s an insult to democracy, and to the voters that participate. The oath has to change.

This petition calls upon the Scottish parliament to establish a new oath of allegiance, one that pledges allegiance to the people of Scotland, not to the Queen.

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Summary

We’ve bid a good afternoon to Matthew Weaver, who has kept us updated all day on the events of the local elections. It’s Damien Gayle here now taking the liveblog reins. Here’s a roundup of how things currently stand:

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Helen Pidd, our North of England editor, marks your card on some key northern contests.

Results to watch include Calderdale in West Yorkshire, which Labour currently holds by just 24 seats to the Tories’ 21, and Pendle in east Lancashire, where the two main parties are neck-and-neck on 18 seats apiece. Pendle also still has a councillor from the rightwing British National party (BNP) but his seat isn’t up this time around. Both Calderdale and Pendle don’t count until Friday morning. Each council area contains parliamentary constituencies that were top Labour targets in last year’s general election: in both Calder Valley and Pendle the incumbent Conservative MP held on with comfortable majorities.

Carlisle is another Labour-Tory marginal, as my piece today explained. If Labour lose control of England’s most northern city, they will be in trouble.

Elsewhere in the north, Knowsley in Merseyside and Rotherham and Sheffield in South Yorkshire are all having all-out elections today, meaning that every seat on those councils is up for grabs. All but two councillors in Knowsley are currently Labour – the outliers represent the Independent Socialist Group – so it seems unlikely the Tories will make in-roads there.

Watch out for yet more Ukip councillors in Rotherham, which already has 12 of Nigel Farage’s gang in the town hall. Voters may wish to punish Labour for its apparent failure to deal with its much-publicised problem of child sexual exploitation in the town. In Labour-run Sheffield, the Greens and Ukip will be hoping to add to their current tally of four councillors each. Lib Dems will also be hoping for a comeback in the steel city: until 2011 it was led by Paul Scriven, now a Lib Dem peer.

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A young woman rides her horse past a polling station in Chipping Barnet.
A young woman rides her horse past a polling station in Chipping Barnet. Photograph: Mary Turner/Getty Images

With the exception of the far north-west of Scotland, almost every part of the UK is spending polling day bathed in sunshine. But will the sunshine boost turnout, asks Esther Addley.

Sunshine, election wisdom frequently holds, is likely to boost turnout, which in turn could give Labour and other left-leaning parties an advantage nationally over the Conservatives and right-leaning parties.

But is it true? Not really, according to Steve Fisher, associate professor of sociology at the University of Oxford, an expert in electoral behaviour who has studied the effect of the weather on voting patterns.

Contrary to assumptions, says Fisher, there is no evidence of weather affecting turnout at general elections - probably because those who intend to vote are already sufficiently motivated by the issues, and those who don’t are unlikely to be persuaded by a bit of sunshine. That’s likely to be the case today, too, in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, where voters are electing members to their devolved parliaments, he says.

In contrast, however, local council elections “are sufficiently less important to people, and the underlying turnout is already so low, that [whether or not they vote] is likely to be more conditional on whether they feel like it on the day”.

Even here, however, the effect of a sunny day is likely to be very small, altering results only by a percentage point or two at most. The London mayoral vote, he says, is “probably half-way between”.

What’s more, even if turnout is up a bit, there’s no evidence that this will favour Labour or other left-leaning parties, says Fisher. “When I hear that, usually it’s just people repeating a classic story that is often told. I don’t think there’s much systematic evidence behind that idea.”

It is true, he says, “that people who support the left are less likely to vote than people who support the right. But that doesn’t mean that when you get change between elections in turnout, it’s always the people who are on the left who are increasing their turnout.”

A boosted turnout might be welcome for the sake of democracy, in other words, but no party should expect a sunshine-fuelled surge of voters that will benefit them over the others.

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Frances Perraudin is in Sheffield, covering the byelection in the Brightside and Hillsborough constituency.

Everybody will be surprised if this byelection does not result in a comfortable Labour win. The party’s candidate, Gill Furniss, has been a Labour councillor in the area for 16 years and was married to the constituency’s last MP, Harry Harpham, who died of cancer in February after only nine months in the role.

The area was represented by former the Labour home secretary David Blunkett from 1987 until last May’s general election. Harpham worked as Blunkett’s agent for nearly 20 of those years, meaning he and Furniss were very well known locally.

“I’ve been out campaigning in this area every May for 20 years,” Furniss told the Guardian earlier this week. “It’s just what we do, what I do, what me and Harry did. He wouldn’t expect anything less of me.”

Last May, Harpham won 56.6% of the vote, with the Ukip candidate John Booker coming a distant second with 22.1%. The Conservatives came third with 11%, and the Liberal Democrats fourth with 4.5%.

Ukip’s candidate this time is Steven Winstone, a local businessman and scrap metal dealer who was the party’s candidate for Sheffield South East at the general election. He has previously said that Ukip’s chances in the area have been diminished because the other election battles on the same day have diverted the party’s limited resources.

Winstone, who describes himself as “about as left as you get for a Ukipper”, says that people in the area – which is largely white working class and quite Eurosceptic – could be persuaded to vote for his party, but that they tend to vote Labour out of habit.

Standing for the Lib Dems is Shaffaq Mohammed, who has been a Sheffield councillor for 11 years and is popular locally. The Conservative candidate is Spencer Pitfield, the director of the new Conservative Trade Unionists organisation, who has stood for parliament in Sheffield twice before.

Updated

Jessica Elgot is in the bellwether council of Crawley.

Crawley council has flashed from red to blue and back again over the past decade, a warning signal to the two major parties about where the power lies. Tonight the colour could shift yet again with Labour fighting to hold on to its one-seat majority.

The council elects a third of its seats at a time. Today, 13 are up for contention, with Labour defending eight and the Tories five.

At a glance, the West Sussex town on the edge of Gatwick airport has moved with the age-old rhythm of local elections, with whichever party is in government fighting to hold on to seats and the opposition in ascendancy.

After more than three decades of Labour rule, the Tories took the council in 2006 with a one-seat majority, which grew rapidly until David Cameron walked through the door of No 10.

Since 2011, the Tories have seen steady losses, with Labour winning back control in 2014. But at last year’s election, the Tories advanced, slicing Labour’s majority to just one councillor.

Duncan Crow, leader of the Conservative group, believes the town will be a good bellwether for the parties’ fortunes nationally when results are declared at about 3am. “Look out for Crawley on election night as there will be no better barometer on how the two main parties are doing than what happens here,” he said last month.

If the Conservatives can take just another couple of seats and win back control of the council, despite being the party of government for six years, it will rip up the script. And if the opposite happens, and Labour can increase its majority, it could be a sign of a good night to come for Jeremy Corbyn.

But though the election could have national implications, issues on the doorstep are decidedly local. Parking and housing development are the key topics on campaign literature, with all of the major parties pledging to improve traffic problems plaguing the town.

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Labour MP Mary Creagh, reminds us of Barnet council’s nickname of “easyJet council” as she joins those criticising the borough’s polling shambles.

It gained the nickname in 2009 after introducing measures to charge residents for fast-tracked public services.

The so-called ‘easyCouncil model’, which is being seen by many as a blueprint for a possible future Tory government, was voted through at a council cabinet meeting on Wednesday night.

Under the scheme, householders in the north London borough of Barnet who are seeking planning consent will be able to pay extra to jump the queue, just as budget airline customers can pay more to board the plane first.

Residents will also be able to pay more for services such as extra rubbish collections, while recipients of adult social care will be able to choose to spend a limited budget on respite care or on a cleaner.

Updated

As well as reviving the fortunes of the Scottish Tories, Ruth Davidson, hits a very mean penalty.

Barnet offers 'emergency proxy vote'

Barnet council is offering voters who were turned away this morning an “emergency proxy vote”.

In its latest statement on the voting shambles it said:

If you attended a polling station in Barnet this morning, and you were turned away and therefore could not vote, and you are unable to return due to work reasons, then you may be able to use an emergency proxy vote.

But voters will have to hurry.

You will need to complete an application form and return the form by 5pm today. Find out more about how to vote by emergency proxy.

Will the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, be applying?

After he and his wife Valerie were turned away at a polling station he was said to be “disappointed” as he would be unable to vote later because he is flying to Amsterdam for a visit to the Jewish Community Centre.

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Our readers have calmed down on Barnet for now. But they have been sending in pictures of general voting scenes. Here’s a selection:

My one year old son read the instructions outside the polling station about "how to vote" very carefully, and was then disappointed to find out inside that he was not permitted to join others in 7am paper-scribbling fun.

Hackney polling station this morning

Unlike in neighbouring Barnet, just the other side of the Kilburn High Road, voting in South Hampstead was going very smoothly mid-morning.

Updated

Barnet voter Ben Craig said he “no problems voting this morning” , but he did struggle to get on to the electoral register in the first place.

In a note to Labour assembly member Andrew Dismore, copied into the Guardian, he writes:

I recently moved to the area and provided the council with a paper registration application, which was not recognised. I then applied online. I heard nothing for quite some time and tried to call but found it almost possible to get through. I sent a chaser email which was not responded to, I had to send another email threatening that I would be speaking with the local paper if they did not confirm I was on the electoral register before they bothered to respond.

Although I realise this is less important than the problems this morning what it does do is demonstrate the ineptitude of the council and the electoral registration services. And it gives an indication of why things went so wrong earlier today.

Updated

Arlene Foster
Arlene Foster Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

Nearly 300 candidates are battling for seats in the 108 strong Northern Ireland assembly today, writes Henry McDonald. The DUP and Sinn Féin who have been sharing power in a delicately balanced coalition should win around two thirds of the seats.

Polling stations close at 10pm tonight but the votes will not be counted from the 619 voting centres across 18 constituencies of the region until Friday morning.

Counting is expected into Saturday with some declarations not expected until late that evening.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are elected to the Stormont parliament via proportional representation with 1,2,3 etc preferences along the ballot paper in six seat constituencies.

Unlike in Scotland you have to be 18 to vote in Northern Ireland.

Any official opposition formed will not have the numbers to “bite” the largest parties, Stratagem NI director Quintin Oliver told PA.

He predicted the larger parties would win 66-68 seats, giving them a two thirds majority, with up to 40 members in opposition.

Key battlegrounds within unionism will include former UUP leader David Trimble’s old constituency of Upper Bann, while Sinn Féin’s five-seat stranglehold in West Belfast could be threatened by the emergence of a left-wing anti-austerity candidate.

Democratic Unionist leader and outgoing first minister Arlene Foster voted at a polling station near her home in Brookeborough, Co Fermanagh, while long time Sinn Féin deputy first minister Martin McGuinness was accompanied by party colleagues as he dispatched his ballot in his native Londonderry.

The DUP shares with Ukip the distinction of being the only significant Brexit party.

Sinn Fein candidates for Foyle Raymond McCartney, Martin McGuinness and Maeve McLaughlin arrive at a polling station at Model Primary School in Londonderry.
Sinn Fein candidates for Foyle Raymond McCartney, Martin McGuinness and Maeve McLaughlin arrive at a polling station at Model Primary School in Londonderry. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

Updated

Sian Berry
Sian Berry Photograph: Isabel Infantes/REX/Shutterstock

Sian Berry, the Green party’s candidate for mayor has suggested reopening polling stations in Barnet on Friday morning to give those turned away from voting another chance to exercise their democratic right. In a statement, she said:

“It’s vital that whoever wants to vote in Barnet should be given the chance to do so, otherwise it would be a travesty of democracy. Emergency proxy votes alone won’t solve the problem.

I suggest the most obvious thing at this stage would be to keep the polling stations open as long as possible tonight, and then also to re-open them tomorrow morning to accommodate anyone who tried and failed to vote this morning and may not be able to get there this evening.

If it’s not possible to run the polling stations in the same locations tomorrow, the council should provide well publicised alternatives.”

Scottish Labour party leader Kezia Dugdale, first minister and leader of the Scottish National party Nicola Sturgeon, and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson.
Scottish Labour party leader Kezia Dugdale, first minister and leader of the Scottish National party Nicola Sturgeon, and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

One of the remarkable things about this Holyrood election campaign has been the ongoing feminisation of Scottish politics, writes Libby Brooks.

Yes, there is plenty way to go (I see you, BBC Scotland, with your all-male election panel last night) but – with three women heading the three main parties, and a 50/50 cabinet and shadow cabinet – the visibility of women in the upper echelons of Scottish politics has never been greater, nor the contrast with Westminster more stark.

Despite setting the bar on gender balance in 1999, its inaugural year, with almost 40% of the newly appointed MSPs being women, Holyrood’s backbenches have remained male dominated, only Labour consistently implementing strong quota measures.

This election is likely to return the biggest number of women since 1999:

It’s also worth remembering how many women found their political voice during the 2014 referendum campaign, across the political spectrum. Women for Independence, one of the most influential grassroots organisations to emerge from the referendum, has 14 members standing across five parties today. A couple of them are profiled here, as is Conservative candidate Annie Wells, who explains how taking part in the pro-union campaign changed her mind about the Tory party.

Updated

Will you be staying up for Nuneaton? Rowena Mason has a guide to the likely results timetable once the polls close at 10pm.

We won’t know the result for London mayoral contest until Friday evening, assuming there is no legal challenge.

On a bright morning in Glasgow Kelvin, the party leafleters were less than sunny in their predictions of turnout, writes Libby Brooks.

They are estimating turnout at around 50-60% from what they’d seen so far today.

This is a very mixed constituency, taking in the leafy mansions of Hillhead, a large and transient student population as well as working class areas like Partick. This was also a staunchly yes-voting, and is expected to return sitting SNP MSP Sandra White but with big gains for the Greens on the second list vote.

21-year-old student Arianne Welsh agrees that the focus on this election has been much less than with the previous general election and referendum: “There’s not really been anyone talking about it in my circle,” she said, “when before it was all that anyone could talk about.”

Michael Hill, 23, and also a student, is in the middle of his exams and admits he has not been paying much attention to the campaign. But he has not complaints about being asked to turn out to the polling booth again: “I think the more votes and the more people get involved, the better. People are always complaining that they don’t have enough influence.”

Also casting his vote was Macbeth, and Trial and Retribution actor David Hayman, one of the many Scottish cultural figures who campaigned for a yes vote during the 2014 independence referendum.

Andrew Dismore
Andrew Dismore Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian

Labour’s London assembly candidate for Barnet and Camden, Andrew Dismore, is compiling a dossier on the problems at polling stations in Barnet this morning. He is urging voters who were refused a vote to email him at andrew@andrewdismore.org.uk.

Please say the time you went to the polling station, what you were told by staff and whether you took your polling card.

Dismore said:

“Barnet has a record of problems on election day but the experience today has been a total shambles. Even with Barnet’s notoriously incompetent council, today is their worst election chaos ever and people are rightly angry.

“For now, Labour is simply doing everything we can to encourage people to vote. Your rights are that you must be allowed to vote if you give your name and address. This has not been the case in Barnet today and if possible you should take your polling card, which should have been delivered to your home in the past fortnight.

“It is vital that you vote, and vote Labour to make up for those early voters who have been denied the vote and can’t get to the polling stations.”

Rowena Mason points out the electoral services are one of the few activities that the council has not outsourced to the private sector.

But the private contractor Capita runs postal and proxy votes and the borough’s helpline, according Joe Watts from the Evening Standard.

Updated

Robert Booth has conducted a quick and unscientific snapshot of how interested people are in today’s poll.

I’ve asked the 14 customers and staff at the Alpino cafe on Chapel Market in Islington if they are voting today. It’s a mixed crowd: retirees, shop workers and a few builders munching on toasted cheese sandwiches and Parma ham ciabattas. Six said they vote, eight said they don’t, which at 43% is a little over the 35% that Prof Tony Travers of the London School of Economics predicted on Tuesday, perhaps before he saw the glorious weather.

Anti-monarchy campaigners have launched a petition calling on the new Welsh assembly to pledge allegiance to the people of Wales, rather than the Queen.

Graham Smith
Graham Smith Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

Graham Smith, Republic’s chief executive said: “When we witness democracy in action, voters across Wales and the rest of the UK freely choosing their representatives, it is galling to think we still pledge allegiance to a monarch.”

“The people of Wales elect assembly members, so it should be to the people of Wales that members owe their allegiance.”

“This isn’t just symbolic, it affects the political culture in Cardiff and London. As assembly members prepare to take their oath it’s time to talk about why they should pledge their allegiance to the people, not to the Queen.”

“We need to instil a truly democratic culture in our parliaments and assemblies. At the moment the oath taken by assembly members makes no mention of Wales or the voters at all.”

“We know Westminster will need to agree any change, but the Welsh assembly can take a lead on this issue. That’s why we’re asking people to sign the petition and demand a change of oath.”

Updated

Summary

Here’s a roundup of how things currently stand:

Updated

Josh Halliday is in Hartlepool, the north-east seaside town that has been solidly Labour since 1964, but where the party is under serious threat from Ukip.

Nigel Farage claimed last year that Ukip would be the town’s dominant party by 2020. This year Ukip is fielding candidates in each of the 11 wards up for grabs on Hartlepool borough council.

Local Ukippers are buoyed by last year’s general election result, in which they finished only 3,000 votes away from taking the seat from sitting Labour MP Iain Wright. And the Eurosceptic party has been talking the talk ever since. Jonathan Arnott, Ukip’s North East MEP, said last October that Jeremy Corbyn’s election as leader had “taken Labour a long way from ordinary people” and that “many of them will come across to us”.

Since 2005, Labour has seen its share of the vote reduce substantially – from 52% to 38.5%. Ukip, then a fledgling party with only a 4% share of votes, has risen to become the second party of Hartlepool: with 30.2% of the vote, ahead of the Conservatives (22.6%). In last May’s vote, Ukip gained four million votes nationally and, in the north east, got the highest vote share in the country - 17%.

Leafing through the campaign literature for Ukip’s 11 candidates for tonight’s election Hartlepool, you’d struggle to find a single mention of immigration or the EU referendum.

Instead the party has focused its campaigning on a huge local issue: the removal of services from the town’s hospital. There is palpable anger at the recent decision to close the University Hospital of Hartlepool fertility unit, coming five years after it closed its A&E unit.

Labour-controlled Hartlepool council has fought the closure – taking the highly unusual step in March of seeking a high court injunction against the decision – but Ukip’s candidates have been making hay claiming that they, rather than Labour, are the party to save the town’s hospital. The effectiveness of this campaign will become clear at around 1am, when all the results are in.

Out of 11 council seats up for grabs in Hartlepool tonight, there are two key wards to watch.

In the ward of Foggy Furze (surely a strong contender for best ward name in England?), the council leader’s seat is up for grabs. Labour’s Christopher Akers-Belcher has been leader of the council since May 2013, having been first elected as a councillor in 2009. It would deliver a stark verdict on Labour’s performance locally if he was to be dethroned.

Another one to watch in Hartlepool is the battle taking place in its Headland and Harbour ward, a Labour stronghold. Ukip’s candidate is Shane Moore, a former Hartlepool Conservative stalwart who defected to Nigel Farage’s party last year.

A former deputy chairman of Hartlepool Conservatives, Moore said he joined Ukip after becoming “incredibly disillusioned” with the Tories who, he claimed, had become “an extension of the Labour party”. He said last year: “It became very clear to me during the recent election campaign that only UKIP have the vision to make real changes in Hartlepool and have the commitment, policies and drive to ensure positive change comes about for all.”

Updated

Robert Booth has an update on Mr Waters and his missing postal vote.

A spokesman for Hackney council says Mr Waters or others like him who haven’t received their ballot papers by post can “come to Hackney town hall with proof of ID and proof of address and would be given the pack they need to vote there and then”.

The problem for Mr Waters, 71, is that’s a two mile walk, so he has decided he won’t vote.

Hackney said it did not know of any wider problem with the delivery of postal votes in the area and said polling stations have been very busy.

Updated

Labour activist Fred Rogers
Labour activist Fred Rogers Photograph: Esther Addley for the Guardian

Labour activist Fred Rodgers, wearing red socks and sporting a bright red rosette, said he and his colleagues had been encouraged by the steady turnout in the City of London, writes Esther Addley.

More than 220 people voted at the polling station at St Giles Cripplegate before 11am.

Many of the coveted Barbican flats nearby are occupied by foreign City workers or other occasional residents who use postal votes, he said, so it was impossible to draw too many conclusions, but “turnout is crucial” for Labour across the city.

After an early rush, a steady flow of voters continued throughout the morning. Among them was Margaret Holness, who said she had voted “with a heavy heart really, I didn’t really like any of the choices”.

Holness, who is retired, said she had always considered herself “Old Labour” but felt alienated by the party’s current leadership.

“To me Old Labour is not far left, it’s about fairness not about ideology,” she said.

She was concerned, she said, that the recent row over antisemitism had dented the party’s standing in the capital. “It has certainly damaged it for me.”

Another voter, a journalist who gave her name as Alice and had come to the poll with her 18-month old daughter, said she too had found it difficult to choose between the candidates.

The campaign, she said, had involved “a lot of name-calling, and no one ever told you what their policies were, it was more about slagging off the opposition. I’d like a real candidate rather than schoolboys.”

Updated

It’s not on the scale of the Barnet shambles, but in Hackney at the Sir Thomas Abney polling station, 71-year-old Michael Waters was turned away by election officials and he’s not happy, writes Robert Booth.

He applied for a postal vote, it never arrived and when he turned up at the polling station instead with his polling card, they told him he couldn’t vote as he had a postal vote.

“Of course I am disappointed,” he said. “I’ve lost my vote. I have been sitting in for days waiting for my postal vote to come, but it didn’t and now I am not allowed to vote.”

We’ve asked Hackney council what he or others should do in this situation and await their reply. Stay tuned.

Updated

Andrew Dismore, Labour’s candidate for the London assembly for Barnet and Camden has described the polling shambles in Barnet as “appalling and outrageous”, the Jewish Chronicle reports.

It reported him saying that a legal challenge was “probable” if the vote was close.

The Liberal Democrats in Barnet are calling for a public inquiry. Spokesman Alasdair Hill sent this statement:

“The Barnet Liberal Democrats are calling for a full public inquiry as to why the presiding officers at Barnet polling stations do not have the full electoral roll and only the amended list ... It can only be seen as an affront to democracy. People may not be able to turn up later to vote and the lack of preparedness for today demonstrates contempt to due process and our democratic rights. We call for a full public inquiry into how this could have happened, in particular how the outsourcing of all services by the Conservative run Barnet Council could have impacted on this.”

Updated

A Labour campaign source said it was possible the mayoral vote in London could be open to challenge, after the problems in Barnet, if the vote is tight.

Updated

Barnet council insists its polling problems have been resolved. And it is no longer urging voters to bring polling cards to the polls.

Here’s its latest statement:

All the updated electoral registers are now in place and people can vote as normal. We are advising people who were unable to vote this morning to return again before the polling stations close if at all possible. We apologise for the problems voters have experienced.

Style watch: Is this the end of the political tie? asks Imogen Fox.

Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan Photograph: Hannah Mckay/EPA

What should a jobbing mayoral hopeful semaphore via their wardrobe at the polling station? Dedication? Wisdom? Enthusiasm? A certain sense of down-with-it-ness? And how to do that with only a suit to help? The answer according to Goldsmith and Khan is to dispense with a tie and unbutton their shirt collars. In politico wardrobe terms the unbuttoned shirt has become the new ‘sleeves rolled up’. It’s basically the new sartorial way of saying “I’m going to get stuck in.” And “I get the issues that matter to normal voters.” It’s hard to know who started the trend but the fashion desk have noticed that Khan seems a natural at the look and Goldsmith’s ties seem to have been languishing at the bottom of his washing basket for a good while now.

Zac Goldsmith
Zac Goldsmith
 Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

The trend is spreading through Westminster like wildfire. Corbyn’s always at it, and when Ed Miliband resurfaced recently he wasn’t going to be left out – he was pictured rocking the unbuttoned look too. Time was when politicians were the ones who buttoned up and looked smart as a way of looking trustworthy. But now that wardrobe wisdom has been turned on its head. Ideally the act of voting should have a little bit of pomp about it, it is after all a special day for the candidates. But there’s too much at stake to dress up for the occasion. Instead the deliberately tieless and unbuttoned look is 2016s ‘must-have’ at the polling booth.

As with many things the political satire The Thick of It got there first on no ties.

Formal complaint over Barnet

A London mayoral candidate has made a formal complaint over the voting shambles in Barnet, PA reports.

Sophie Walker
Sophie Walker Photograph: Lucy Young/REX/Shutterstock

Names were missing from polling lists across Barnet and residents, including the chief rabbi, attempting to cast their vote were stopped.
But Sophie Walker, the Women’s Equality party mayoral candidate, has registered a complaint with the council, along with the London assembly.

She told the Press Association: “I am very disappointed. I have spent my morning responding to messages from people upset that they could not vote. Women first got the vote 100 years ago and there are women today who have been unable to vote.”

Walker, who will be voting in Barnet later, added: “These are vital votes, particularly for smaller parties. “We will be pursuing a complaint.”

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

The chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, and his wife Valerie were among those to be turned away from their polling station.

He is said to be “disappointed” as he will be unable to vote later because he is flying to Amsterdam for a visit to the Jewish Community Centre.

Guy Fryer, head of stage at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, was missing from the list but managed to vote after “standing his ground” at a polling station in Strawberry Vale.

He said: “How can we have a fair vote if not everyone has voted?

“An apology is really not good enough. It’s not a bring-and-buy sale. It really, really matters.”

Zac Goldsmith’s team appealed to voters turned away from polling stations to return later.

A spokesman for the Tory mayoral candidate said: “There has clearly been a major problem across the whole of the borough of Barnet that has resulted in properly registered voters being turned away.

“As we speak, the problem has not yet been rectified although we understand that the local returning officer is belatedly reprinting registers and it remains to be seen what the effect of this will be upon the three ballots taking place there.

“We would strongly encourage any voters wrongly turned away to return to their polling stations at any time up to 10pm this evening if at all possible.”

Updated

More voters in Barnet have expressed their anger at the council’s advice for voters to bring polling cards to the polls (see earlier).
Emma Hardy turned up to her polling station in Cricklewood early this morning with a polling card and was still asked to come back later.

I turned up at 6:55 and waited five minutes for the polling station to open. It was the All Saints CE School polling station. I was first in the queue and when they couldn’t find my name they asked if I could wait and deal with others in the queue first. They checked about five people and they were all also not on the list. Many of us (including me) had our polling cards.

The man who appeared to be in charge was in quite a panic and trying frantically to call someone. He finally got through to that person and seemed to have been told that this was a problem in other stations, and that the lists were not complete.

He then asked for everyone’s attention and told us we’d need to come back later, when hopefully the issue would be resolved. Luckily, I can go back later, but I spoke to two people who said they couldn’t and were obviously quite upset.

Barnet council’s statement that the problem was only for those without their polling cards is incorrect as I, and many others, had our cards.

I was there for around twenty minutes and didn’t see anyone arrive who was on the list.

Another contributor to GuardianWitness reported the same problem.

The information on the live feed here is wrong - it is not an issue about turning up without polling cards. Everyone I witnessed this morning (including me) HAD a polling card and could not vote. It might be slowly resolving itself now but it is not an issue of people turning up without their cards.

In Stamford Hill, home to the largest Orthodox Jewish community in Britain, there has been a slow trickle of voters heading into the Sir Thomas Abney primary school polling station, writes Robert Booth.

Several members of the orthodox Haredi community indicated they were not voting or were not registered to vote. Others said the antisemitism row affecting Labour may have lost it some votes in the area, but remarked the community tends to back the Conservatives.

Rabin, 69, a community library organiser with an MBE was among those voting and he said the row didn’t affect his vote. “There has been an antisemitism row and I don’t know how it started,” he said.

“I imagine there are a number of antisemites in all the political parties. That is part of society. It hasn’t affected the way I vote at all. Mr Corbyn has been a friend of Hamas and that doesn’t really play well with Jews. However, one must remember that Gerald Kaufman MP, who is Jewish, always stands up in parliament and has a right go at Israel.”

Amram Eirenberg, 39, a bookseller, said he found the antisemitism in Labour “disturbing”.

“I think there is some antisemitism but I think the majority of Labour aren’t antisemitic. I think it will have affected the vote for some people but not the majority.”

Echoing a common complaint about the lack of publicity for the mayoral election, Rabin said: “You walk around and you wouldn’t know there was an election on. Once upon a time you would meet candidates and people touting for the various parties.”

Updated

Liberal Democrat activists in Barnet are demanding a public inquiry.

Labour MPs David Lammy and John Mann have criticised the voting shambles at Tory-controlled Barnet.

Labour councillors are urging supporters to log complaints and concerns about voting in the borough.

One of Barnet’s Tory MPs, Mike Freer, has repeated the council’s advice to bring polling cards to polling stations.

John Harris and John Domokos have been going in search of the country’s real politics, as part of our Anywhere but Westminster series.

Here’s their take on attempts by self-styled independents to kick out big parties in Frome and Winchester.

Flatpack democracy: the new English political revolt

There were mixed reactions to elections among shoppers, stall holders and commuters in Whitechapel, Esther Addley reports.

This part of east London is proportionally one of the most Muslim areas of the capital, and Noreen Koyratty, who works at the nearby Royal London hospital, says “it would mean a great deal to all of us” if Sadiq Khan were elected London’s first Muslim mayor.

“I know he has a young family, which makes me think he knows what it is like for young Muslims. We get stereotyped as radicals.”

She had been discussing the vote with colleagues in recent days but though all had received leaflets, few had been clear on the policies of the main candidates, she said.

Which improvements would she most like to see the new mayor make to London? “So many. The list is probably endless. The main things are education, transport, pensions, things like that,” Koyratty said.

Nasir Ali, setting out shoes on a rack outside his shop, said he would “certainly” be voting along with his family later. “If you live here, you work here, it’s your responsibility to vote. If you don’t vote you don’t love this country.”

But others were much less enthusiastic. “In this area,” said clothing stallholder Abul Azad, “no one is voting. I think people aren’t interested.”

He had occasionally voted in national or council elections, he said, but people considered the poll for mayor irrelevant.

Another stallholder, who gave his name as Rhythm, said he, too, was uninterested. “Whoever comes to power, nothing changes in my life. Before the election they all come here promising this and that, handshakes, but after they win they forget.”

The potential prospect of a Muslim mayor was irrelevant, he said. “If Sadiq Khan gets elected it’s not about Muslims, he should work for everyone, for Muslims, Jews, Christians.”


Updated

According to the Electoral Commission Scotland, the total number of Scots who have registered to vote in today’s election is 4,100,280 – including the 16- and 17-year-olds voting for the first time in a Scottish parliamentary election, writes Libby Brooks.

This is a couple of hundred thousand voters fewer than the historically high number who registered to vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum – which also included 16- and 17-year-olds. The campaign saw voter registration drives in deprived areas which traditionally did not engage with politics.

There have been concerns that with the Electoral Commission’s transition from a household canvass of voters to a new individual individual voter registration system – which was completed by December 2015 – some registered voters would fall between the new and old lists. There is some evidence that fewer teen voters have registered since the new system came into place, but there is no breakdown of this for Scotland.

In comparison with the last Scottish parliamentary election in 2011 (3,950,626) and last year’s UK general election (4,099,532), today’s electorate is looking pretty healthy.

Updated

Voting in full swing in Bristol where the independent incumbent George Ferguson is once again fighting off a determined challenge from Labour’s Marvin Rees for the position of directly-elected mayor.

Steve Morris has this curtain raiser to the Bristol contest.

If you’re voting in the mayoral elections in Bristol, Liverpool, London or Salford you might be puzzled on how best to use your second vote.

There’s a Guardian guide for that:

We’ve been hearing from readers in Barnet who have been unable to vote, via GuardianWitness, writes James Walsh. Suffice to say, they aren’t very impressed with the council. However, one reader reports that voters are now able to vote without a polling card – albeit slowly.

Barnet polling stations are a shambles this morning! Unless you took your polling card with you you were turned away, as the stations haven't received the electoral lists so they can check your name and address and issue you with a ballot paper.

According to Barnet https://www.barnet.gov.uk/citizen-home/news/Electoral-registration-lists.html you need to return later today and take your card with you. Does that mean if you don't have it you still won't be able to vote.

Does this make the vote in Barnet illegal as we haven't been allowed to vote even though we are registered? Will the Barnet vote be rescheduled to tomorrow?

I went along with my wife, without polling cards, which had not arrived. My wife was on the list and was allowed to vote. I was not on the list, but got a vote after the Presiding Officer received my voting number by telephone. Our son had applied for a postal vote, but he was on the list as a paper vote (postal votes are marked "(a)"). He has therefore lost his first ever voting opportunity. Brave face put on by all in the face of adversity.

Just came back from voting in Totteridge, Barnet. The polling staff are now calling to confirm voters are on the Electoral Register if they arent on the list - its a slow process, but people are now getting to vote.

Barnet’s latest statement is garbage. I was turned away WITH a polling card this morning. Isn't outsourcing great?

Updated

It’s a perfect day for voting in St Ives in Cornwall, Steve Morris reports.

They’re going to the polls here to vote in a referendum on a local plan that includes limiting second home ownership.

Results are expected in the early hours Friday.

Updated

Chief rabbi and Barnet councillor turned away at polls

This symbolises the shambles in Barnet if true: one of the council’s cabinet members, Dean Cohen was turned away from a polling station in Golders Green, according Justin Cohen, news editor of the Jewish Chronicle.

The paper also reported that the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, was also turned away at a polling station.

Updated

The Guardian’s Jamie Grierson is heading for Barnet councils offices after being asked to leave a polling station in East Finchley.

He writes:

By 10am, normal voting procedures appeared to have been restored.

Staff at polling stations at East Finchley Library and East Finchley Youth Theatre told the Guardian all residents were now able to vote and errors had been corrected.

It is understood the problem related to incomplete roll lists being handed to polling stations.

While the problem appears to have been corrected, it came after the 7am-9am slot favoured by voters who are working, raising questions over whether they have missed their window to vote for the day.

Updated

The final poll of the Scottish election campaign, by YouGov for the Times, recorded a fall in support for the Scottish National party and a decline in voter satisfaction with its record, writes Severin Carrell.

The poll, published as polling stations opened on Thursday, still gives the SNP a sizable lead over Labour and the Tories, who remain neck and neck in the race for second place, but it suggests Nicola Sturgeon may fail to beat the SNP’s record tally of 69 seats won in 2011. She needs to win 65 seats for an overall majority.

It puts the SNP at 48% on the constituency vote, down two points, but only at 41% on the regional list vote – down from 45% in early April. That suggests the SNP may struggle to win enough regional list votes to boost its overall tally. Its overall satisfaction rating, says YouGov, has fallen from 13 points to seven.

The findings also show a jump in support for the Scottish Green party at 9% on the regional lists, suggesting it should overtake the Liberal Democrats as Holyrood’s fourth largest party. The Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, is predicting her party will beat Labour into third.


SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon holds a copy of the local evening newspaper as she arrives to cast her vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election, at Broomhoouse Community Hall in Glasgow.
SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon holds a copy of the local evening newspaper as she arrives to cast her vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election, at Broomhoouse Community Hall in Glasgow. Photograph: Robert Perry/EPA

Updated

In Zac Goldsmith’s Richmond Park constituency voting was brisk first thing this morning, writes Sandra Laville.

Margaret Padfield was one of more than 70 people who voted before 9am at Richmond Library.

Andrea Bondi and his partner Silvia Sassi, pushing their baby in a pram, said: “The main issues for us are the price of housing and the cost of rents in London, that is important for us and the cost of childcare.”

Updated

Steven Morris has four points to look out for in the Welsh assembly elections:

  1. Will Labour hold on to power? They governed with 30 of the 60 seats at the last assembly.
  2. If Labour is the largest party but does not have enough seats to govern will it form a coalition? If so, with who? The Lib Dems or Plaid Cymru?
  3. How will the Tories fare? The steel crisis in Port Talbot and the Panama Papers did not help their campaign. They were the second biggest party last time.
  4. Will Ukip have its first assembly members come tomorrow? Most experts think so.

The Welsh Governance Centre at Cardiff University has this guide to the election in Wales.

Updated

David and Samantha Cameron have cast their votes.

The Guardian’s political editor, Heather Stewart, witnessed some of the polling problems in Barnet when she went to vote in Finchley. She was told that for two hours no one could vote unless they produced their polling cards. She predicts that the council could face a legal challenge because voters should be allowed to vote without their polling cards.

From impromptu debates on buses to poetry recitals in corner shops, the grassroots campaign Take Back the City is taking politics to the streets of London, disillusioned with mainstream parties. John Harris meets community organiser Amina Gichinga, a candidate in Thursday’s London assembly elections. He also attempts to speak to Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan about the housing crisis gripping the city.

Take Back the City: London’s political startup calls for change

Here’s the latest statement from Barnet on its polling shambles.

We are aware of problems with our electoral registration lists this morning at polling stations in Barnet which have meant that a number of people who had not brought their polling card with them were unable to vote.

We are working to resolve this issue and the updated registers have been sent to all the polling stations, which we expect to be in place by 10am. In the meantime, people who have their polling cards with them are able to vote.

We are advising residents to bring their polling cards. If people were unable to vote this morning they are being advised to return if possible later before the stations close at 10pm. We apologise for the problems.

Residents are invited to rate the statement with a smiley, sad or neutral face.

Barnet council screengrab
Barnet council screengrab Photograph: Public domain

Guardian commentator Aditya Chakrabortty warned us about problems of accountability under the ultra-outsourcing regime at Barnet council back in December 2014. He wrote:

This is what happens when you lose locally accountable public servants. It’s also the cost of losing local expertise. Take the legal department, now run out of Harrow. The result was that in early summer, Barnet councillors were given the wrong reports to vote on. The resulting mockery led to the commissioning of an independent report that stated on its first page: “There is no one who understands local government law in depth at Barnet. Barnet employs no lawyers.”

Journalist Jennifer Lipman, who attempted to vote at Hoop Lane polling station, told PA that voting problems this morning were “disastrous”.

“We arrived at the polling station at 8ish to be told only four people have voted so far.

We had our ballot papers and they checked their lists, but we were not on there. They advised us to call the helpline but had no further information.

It’s incredibly frustrating because even if they sort the problem, there will be plenty of people who are unable to vote later in the day, not to mention the likelihood of large queues building up.

I firmly believe in the right to vote so I am upset to seemingly be denied it.”

Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, reckons that council’s advice to bring ballot papers to polling stations could lead to more problems and a possible legal challenge.

There are signs of a relatively high turnout in the middle class enclave of Muswell Hill, north London, writes Robert Booth.

Around 150 people voted in the first hour and three quarters at the Birchwood Avenue polling station and there was a queue at the 7am opening time, which the officials said was unusual.

The mayoral turnout here in 2012 was around 40%.

As voters streamed in and out in the sunshine some voiced disappointment at the Conservative attacks on Khan over his alleged links to Islamic radicals and at Labour’s handling of its own antisemitism crisis which have dominated the final weeks of the London mayor elections.

“It’s the kind of thing you would expect in a local campaign but not at the mayoral level,” said Duraid Silarbi, 46, a civil servant. “You would expect more mature debate and for it to drift towards gutter politics was dreadful.”

He said housing was the main concern and that the Conservatives “haven’t engaged with the fact that housing is now a middle-class issue too”.

John Baird, 45, a solicitor, said that for him the rows had not got in the way of campaigning on the key issues.

“The candidates have made housing in London a key part of the campaign that is brilliant,” he said. “What has happened over the last two terms of Boris in terms of house prices and ownership is really coming home.”

Of the claims about Khan’s links to extremists he said: “I would rather these issues out in the open and debated. There are skeletons in everyone’s closet.”


Updated

Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Islington, north London.
Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Islington, north London. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Jeremy Corbyn has cast his vote.

The Labour leader smiled and declared he was feeling “very happy” as he arrived at his local primary school to cast his vote, PA reports.

He gave a thumbs-up to photographers as he entered the polling station in his constituency in Islington, north London.

Asked what results he was hoping for in the elections, he added: “We’ll know tonight.”

Earlier this week he predicted that Labour will not lose seats in the elections. But team Corbyn have since rowed back on the prediction. An aide said his leader’s comment – “we are not going to lose seats, we are looking to gain seats where we can” – should not be taken as a prediction of what might happen.

Meanwhile, our North of England editor Helen Pidd, reports on the local elections in Manchester.

The 2.7 million residents of Greater Manchester today will not get to vote for a new police and crime commissioner (PCC), unlike everywhere else in England and Wales that is not London. That’s because as part of its devolution deal with George Osborne, the combined authority opted to scrap the position and replace it with an elected mayor.

The current PCC is Tony Lloyd, former MP for Manchester Central and current interim mayor. He is one of two front-runners to become the mayor proper in next year’s elections. The other is Bury South Labour MP Ivan Lewis.

Eight of Greater Manchester’s 10 local authorities are currently Labour controlled. Tory Trafford will probably stay blue but Stockport, currently in no overall control with the Liberal Democrats on 26 seats to Labour’s 21, may change hands. All 96 councillors in Manchester itself are currently Labour, though former Lib Dem MP John Leech is hoping to change that in well-to-do Didsbury West.

Also look out for the result in Rochdale, where the Lib Dems have been trying very hard to remind voters of the misdemeanours of the Labour MP, Simon Danczuk.

The Lib Dems currently have just one seat in the town, despite controlling the council between 2007 and 2010.

In Salford, voters will get a chance to pick a new elected mayor. The Labour incumbent, Ian Stewart, who beat notorious gangster Paul Massey last time around, is stepping down. It would be a Leicester City-style shock if Labour didn’t win again in Greater Manchester’s “other” city.

Updated

Would-be Barnet voter Jennifer Lipman is not satisfied by the council’s response to the polling shambles after she was one of many of those turned away from a polling station in the borough.

She also reminds us of how the area voted in favour of Boris Johnson in the last mayoral election.

Barnet urges turned-away voters to return later

Barnet council is urging voters who have been turned away from polling station to return later in the day while it tries to resolve the problems with its voting lists.

Updated

Barnet polling shambles update: There are unconfirmed reports that hundreds of people and whole streets have been left off the voting register.

The two leading candidates for London mayor, Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan, have both cast their votes. Neither were voting in Barnet.

Conservative party candidate for Mayor of London Zac Goldsmith and his wife Alice leave after voting at a polling station in the Barnes suburb of south west London
Conservative party candidate for Mayor of London Zac Goldsmith and his wife Alice leave after voting at a polling station in the Barnes suburb of south west London Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
Labour Party candidate for Mayor of London and his wife Saadiya leave after casting their votes.
Labour Party candidate for Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya leave after casting their votes. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Labour is blaming the problems in Barnet on the council’s decision to outsource its electoral services.

London assembly member Tom Copley said the problems could lead to a legal challenge.

Updated

Barnet council has told the Evening Standard that it is aware of a problem with voting lists and is investigating.

There are more reports of voters being turned away across the borough.

Updated

Voters turned away in Barnet

There are reports of chaotic scenes at polling stations in the London borough of Barnet after voters reported being turned away because of incomplete polling lists.

Reader Ben Overlander said he was told to come back after lunch because voting lists were incomplete. He emailed:

I’ve just left a fractious polling station in Finchley Central, N3. They had incomplete lists so I was told to come back after lunch. Many people not able to come back so simply excluded from the vote.

Others reports similar problems:

Sophie Walker for the Women’s Equality Party who is standing in the mayoral race urged Barnet Council to tackle the problem.

Are the aircraft contrails trying to tell us something?

Welsh and Scottish nationalist leaders have been wishing each other luck in their separate elections.

The SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon said she was “proud” to call Plaid Cymru’s leader Leanne Wood a friend.

Wood sent back her “warmest wishes”.

Plaid Cymru is predicted to win only 13 of the 60 Welsh assembly seats despite the popularity of Wood.

A poll last week said Labour was on course to win 28, down from 30, which would probably leave it needing a coalition partner if it is to remain in government.

The Tories are predicted to come third in Wales with 10 followed by Ukip with seven, even though it has never won a Welsh assembly seat. The Lib Dems are projected to win only two seats.

Ukip could secure some high profile gains in Wales. The disgraced former Tory minister Neil Hamilton heads the regional list in Mid and West Wales. The Tory defector Mark Reckless heads the party list in South Wales East.

Updated

An SNP supporter outside Broomhouse Community Hall polling station in Glasgow, Scotland, as the polls open in the Scottish Parliament election.
An SNP supporter outside Broomhouse Community Hall polling station in Glasgow, Scotland, as the polls open in the Scottish Parliament election. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Polls suggest the SNP is in line to take the largest share of seats in the election for the Scottish parliament after its landslide victory in 2011 created the first Holyrood majority government, PA reports.

But all eyes will be on the race for second place, with the Conservatives hoping to unseat Labour as Scotland’s second biggest party.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has been increasingly optimistic in the days leading up to the election, insisting polling and canvassing returns indicate her party is “well on course” to be Scotland’s main opposition.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has brought in a raft of new faces this year after Labour was decimated in the 2015 general election, returning just one MP in a land where it had dominated politics for nearly half a century.

Dugdale has acknowledged she still has work to do to rebuild the party into a force capable of unseating the SNP, but she has stated her intention to take Labour back into government.
The referendum led to a surge in support for the Scottish Greens, with its membership quadrupling since then as many Scots apparently look for a pro-independence alternative to the SNP.

The nationalist left is also represented by newcomer Rise, which has earned the support of former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars, and Solidarity - which is led by former Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan.

Polls indicate the Greens could be in line for as many as eight MSPs, if their strategy of focusing largely on the regional list pays off.

Eurosceptic party Ukip has followed a similar strategy, and is hoping to emulate its success in the 2014 European parliament election when David Coburn became the party’s first Scottish parliamentarian.

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is hoping Scotland has forgiven his party for going into coalition with the hitherto unpopular Conservatives in the UK government in 2010, insisting his party has done more than any other to deliver Scotland’s new powerhouse parliament.

Updated

The two leading candidates for London mayor, Zac Goldmisth and Sadiq Khan, have wasted no time in urging their supporters to get out and vote.

LibDem candidate issued this video message to London voters last night.

Summary

Welcome to our live coverage of polling day on one of the biggest set of elections outside of a general election for years.

Polling stations opened at 7am and will close at 10pm in a series of separate elections across the UK. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland there are parliamentary and assembly contests. In England almost 2,000 council seats up for grabs and there are separate ballots for 40 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.

There are no local elections in London, but the capital will elect a new mayor and a new London assembly. There are also mayoral elections in three other English cities: Bristol, Liverpool and Salford.

The elections are a key test for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and whether his popularity among activists can translate to the electorate.

Labour insiders fear the party could be set to lose control of a string of English councils, including Dudley, Redditch, Southampton, Plymouth and Cannock Chase, although they expect that Sadiq Khan will win the London mayoralty.

Jamie Grierson has a detailed guide:

English local government and mayoral elections

Elections are being held at 124 councils in England, covering 2,743 seats. Some pollsters have predicted a wipeout for Labour, forecasting major losses across the country. This set of council seats was last contested in the wake of George Osborne’s 2012 “omnishambles” budget and saw Labour make significant gains under Ed Miliband, adding more than 500 councillors. There will also be mayoral elections in Bristol, Liverpool and Salford.

The mayor of London and London Assembly

The mayor of London contest has come down to a Labour v Conservative battle once again, with Labour’s Sadiq Khan favourite to beat the Tories’ Zac Goldsmith. Meanwhile, there are 25 London assembly seats up for grabs – 14 from constituencies and 11 London-wide. It is the role of the assembly to hold the mayor to account.

Scottish parliament

Scottish parliamentary elections use an additional member system to elect 129 members of the Scottish parliament (MSPs). Scotland is divided into 73 constituencies, each of which elects one MSP, and eight larger regions which elect seven MSPs each. The Scottish National party is expected to claim a resounding victory, although some polling experts have raised doubts over whether they will win as many seats as they did in 2011. Scottish Labour, led by Kezia Dugdale, is battling the Tories to be the official opposition in Holyrood.

National assembly of Wales

Welsh assembly elections also use the additional member system to elect 60 assembly members (AMs). Wales is divided into 40 constituencies, each of which elects one AM, and five larger regions which elect four AMs each. Labour is set to retain the greatest support in the assembly, although its numbers are expected to dip slightly on the previous election. Nationalists Plaid Cymru are forecast to solidify their position as the second party, while Conservatives are expected to come in third.

Northern Ireland assembly

Northern Ireland assembly elections use a system called single transferable vote to elect members of the legislative assembly (MLAs). There are 108 MLAs representing 18 constituencies. Each constituency is represented by six MLAs. Voters are given a ballot paper listing all the candidates competing for the six seats and have to rank them in order of preference. The last assembly election was held in 2011, with the DUP and Sinn Féin remaining the two largest parties and few have predicted major changes.

Police and crime commissioners

Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) were introduced by the Conservatives in 2012, and replaced the previous model of police authorities in England and Wales. They have powers to hire and fire chief constables and set police strategy and budgets, and can be politically-affiliated. The first PCC elections in 2012 saw low turnouts of between 10% and 20%. Elections are held in 40 police authorities. The Tories gained the most PCCs in 2012, with 16, followed by Labour on 13. As many as half of the PCCs elected in 2012 will not be seeking re-election, making predictions difficult.

Dr Robert Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester, explains what would constitute awful bad, average, good and excellent results for the major parties.

Ford also marks your card for the key races to watch:

Scotland

If the SNP advance is as strong as expected, Coatbridge and Chryston, Glasgow Provan and Renfrewshire South are the seats to watch – they are Labour’s safest remaining seats with majorities of about 10%. The Liberal Democrats will be trying to hold on in their two traditional islands strongholds of Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands.

Wales

Llanelli is the most marginal Welsh seat, swings back and forth between Labour and Plaid Cymru. Currently, Labour hold it by a razor thin margin. Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire is a tight three-way contest between Conservatives, Labour and Plaid. The Liberal Democrats will hope to defend their sole remaining seat of Brecon and Radnorshire, and try to win back Cardiff Central where Labour have a tiny majority. On a good night, the Conservatives will hope to challenge Labour for Cardiff North; on a bad one they face threats from Plaid in Aberconwy and Labour in Preseli Pembrokeshire.

Local councils

Big English councils where Labour defend small majorities include Southampton (1 seat); Dudley (3 seats); Derby (4 seats) and Cambridge (4 seats). Big councils where the Conservatives have a precarious grip on power include: Amber Valley (2 seats), Swindon (4 seats) and Winchester (5 seats). The Liberal Democrats will be looking to begin their recovery in current or former strongholds – Eastleigh, Cambridge and South Lakeland are worth watching for signs of life, post-coalition. Ukip will look to make further gains in its traditional east coast strongholds such as Great Yarmouth, and struggling blue collar areas such as Thurrock. Norwich is worth watching closely – Labour holds a narrow 2 seat majority, but if the Greens take 4 seats they will gain control of a council for only the second time in their history.

London

The key “swing” seats in the assembly are Ealing and Hillingdon (Labour leads Conservatives by 2 points); Havering and Redbridge (Conservatives lead Labour by 3 points); and Croydon and Sutton (Conservatives lead Labour by 6 points). If Sadiq Khan wins the mayoral vote in these areas, he will be well on track to become London’s next mayor, while assembly wins for Labour in the latter two could see them take majority control of the assembly (they are one seat short at present). Havering and Redbridge is worth watching for evidence of Ukip strength - they performed well in parliamentary constituencies in the eastern part of this seat in 2015. The Greens, Liberal Democrats and Ukip will all be vying for seats on the city-wide list, so watch their overall vote shares - 5-6% should be enough for one seat while 7-9% should secure two. Currently the Greens and Lib Dems have two list seats each while Ukip has none.

Updated

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