Political leaders across the country have joined millions of Britons this morning by casting their votes on what prime minister Boris Johnson has described as a “very big day” for the UK.
Today’s elections are the biggest set of local and devolved contests in decades outside of a general election.
On what has been called “Super Thursday” by some, voters in Scotland and Wales will have their say on their national representatives in Holyrood and the Senedd respectively.
Meanwhile in England, there are a number of mayoral contests, including a ballot in London, where Sadiq Khan is seeking re-election for a second term.
There are also more than 140 councils running elections today and a potentially dramatic by-election in the north-east constituency of Hartlepool.
The results of these votes could have profound implications for the future of the United Kingdom and the two major parties, Labour and the Conservatives.
How are polling stations staying safe during the pandemic?
This year’s local and devolved elections are unlike any other due to social distancing restrictions required for the coronavirus pandemic.
The first wave of Covid-19 stopped elections completely in May 2020, with some votes, such as the London mayoral election, postponed by a year.
Now, voting is taking place with a range of measures designed to limit the spread of coronavirus.
These include:
- Using one-way systems, hand sanitiser and perspex screens for staff
- Encouraging mask-wearing in polling stations
- Social distancing in queues
- Encouraging voters to bring their own pencils or pen
Voters queue outside a Glasgow polling station as they wait to cast their ballots while following social distancing rules:
When can we expect election results on Friday?
Due to social distancing requirements, it will take much longer to count today’s votes than it would during a normal set of elections as some polling stations are not counting overnight.
What that means is we will not have some results until the weekend as staff work their way through the ballots.
Polls will close across the UK at 10pm tonight, with counting beginning for the Hartlepool parliamentary by-election, Doncaster mayoral election, and 18 of 143 councils in England.
We should get the first results from these councils, Hartlepool and Doncaster through Friday morning.
From 12pm on Friday, we should have the first results from the 46 Scottish parliamentary constituencies which are counting through the morning and the first results from 77 councils in England.
From 2pm, we should have the Liverpool mayoral result, with the first results from Wales expected at 3pm.
The result for the Tees Valley mayor should be declared during the afternoon, along with six of the seven police and crime commissioners being counted on Friday. The seventh result, Derbyshire, is due in the evening.
From early evening, we should get the first results from the seven London constituencies being counted on Friday.
Final results are also due from Wales in the evening, along with any remaining results from the 46 of 73 Scottish parliamentary constituencies counting on Friday.
As usual on election day, there has been a lot of talk about pets at polling stations again so YouGov has dug up some research on the UK’s favourite types of dogs.
The survey found Britons were most fond of Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers and Border Collies, with little love for Bullboxer Staffs…
Alex Salmond casts ballot at local polling station in Aberdeenshire
Alba Party leader Alex Salmond has cast his ballot in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, today as his new party hopes to win enough seats to create a “supermajority” for independence in the Scottish parliament.
The former SNP leader told reporters on Thursday that he had put forward a “positive case” during the campaign for independence from the UK.
“Polling day is always an exciting day,” Mr Salmond added, when asked how he felt about returning to his local polling station while no longer standing as an SNP candidate.
A reminder that our chief political commentator John Rentoul will be answering questions about the election results from 4pm tomorrow:
A group of nine dogs were stopped outside a polling station in Dulwich Village, London, earlier today in support of the popular #DogsInPollingStations trend on Twitter:
Footage of London mayor Sadiq Khan casting his vote earlier today can be found below:
ICYMI: Which candidates are standing in my area?
As millions of Britons head to the polls today for this year’s local and devolved elections, our reporter Vincent Wood has put together a brief guide for how to know who is standing in your local area.
You can find the key information below:
