Polling stations open in UK as country poised to eject Tories after 14 years of government

 

07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jul/04/general-election-2024-uk-polling-day-labour-tories-starmer-sunak-reform-latest-live-news

 

Polling stations open in UK as country poised to eject Tories after 14 years of government

 

Voting has begun across the UK for a general election which polling suggests could bring an end to 14 years of the Conservative party in government, and see Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer installed in Downing Street as the new prime minister.

 

Polling stations will be open until 10pm, and for the first time in England, Scotland and Wales general election voters will be required to provide photo identification before voting in person. Northern Ireland introduced voter ID in 2002.

 

Prime minister Rishi Sunak called the election six weeks ago in a rain-soaked speech outside No 10 where he had to battle against the sounds of 1997 New Labour anthem Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream being blasted out by a protester, and his campaign has been uphill ever since. The Conservatives have barely made a dent into Labour’s polling lead, which has consistently shown Starmer’s party to be about 20 points ahead, much higher than the swing needed to reverse the party’s dismal 2019 general election result.

 

The Conservative campaign has been bedevilled with scandal, as people close to the PM and Tory candidates were accused of betting on the timing of the election, leading to a police investigation. The last few days of the campaign have seen the Tories seize desperately on the Labour leader saying he intends to carve out some time with his family each week to claim he would “clock off” from being PM at 6pm, and claim that people should vote Conservative to avoid Labour winning a “supermajority” – a meaningless concept that has no formal existence in the Westminster system. Sunak has repeatedly used a discredited line that Labour policies will add more than £2,000 to tax bills.

 

Labour have faced their own problems, with selection rows over Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen overshadowing the early days of the campaign, and accusations that the party is putting forward an uninspiring programme that has undone much of the enthusiasm younger voters had developed for Labour during the years that Jeremy Corbyn was leader. Corbyn is standing as an independent candidate for his old seat in North Islington. Disquiet over the party’s approach to Israel’s conflict in Gaza is also expected to cost the party votes, especially in urban areas and areas with significant Muslim populations. Comments Starmer made in recent days about Bangladeshi immigrants have landed badly with that community.

 

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has tried to use a stunt-laden campaign to attract coverage of his party’s policies as it attempts to overtake the SNP and once again become the third largest party in the House of Commons.

 

For their part, the SNP with Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and recently installed first minister of Scotland John Swinney have campaigned on a platform insisting that however people feel about the government in Holyrood, this election is a chance to send a strong Scottish voice to London. Labour are looking to reclaim seats in Scotland’s central belt that had for many, many years been traditional Labour heartlands. Polls have Labour and SNP closer than they have been for years in Scotland.

 

In Wales, Labour’s campaign has been hindered by controversy swirling around donations to first minister Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign, which Plaid Cymru will hope they can exploit. In Northern Ireland, DUP interim leader Gavin Robinson is defending a narrow majority in Belfast East. George Galloway is attempting to hold the Rochdale seat he won in a February byelection for the Workers Party of Britain. The Green Party of England and Wales have made four seats in England their main target.

 

The early surprise of the campaign was Nigel Farage’s decision to seize leadership of the Reform UK party from Richard Tice. MRP polling models have suggested the party might win as many as 18 seats, or indeed none at all. Predictions they would surge in polling have during the campaign have broadly not been met, but Farage has said his intention is to build a movement to oppose Labour that will put him in a position to become prime minister in 2029.

 

It is Martin Belam with you on the blog for the next few hours – do drop me a line at martin.belam@theguardian.com if you like, especially if you spot errors, mistakes, omissions, have questions, or just want to send me a picture of your dog enjoying the election.