Polling stations in the UK are now open 8 June
Yes folks, voting is now underway in the eagerly awaited UK General Election.
Some key points to note:
- polls opened at 06:00 GMT at more than 40,000 polling stations with counting starting once the voting ends at 21:00 GMT. First exit polls at that time.
total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with 46.9m people registered to vote, up from 46.4m registered voters last time
to form a majority in the House of Commons one party must win 326 seats - in 2015 a Conservative majority was not confirmed until 12:34 GMT.
Conservatives currently have 331 seats , a majority of 12 but when you factor in Sinn Fein MPs, who don't take up their seats, deputy speakers who don't usually vote, and changes to the make-up of the Commons over the past 18 months after by-elections it adds up to a working majority of 17, the smallest majority a government has faced a year into office since Labour's Harold Wilson was prime minister in the 1960s.
- some votes have already been cast, through postal voting, which accounted for 16.4% of the total electorate at the 2015 election.
- Overall turnout in 2015 was 66.4%, up from 2010. Turnout today is expected to be high .The weather forecast is for some rain in south-west England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales on Thursday, with south-east England remaining cloudy and dry.
So there you have it. Now we wait to see what the voting actually brings. The rest is conjecture, hype and bluster.
Can we rule out a Corbyn victory or a hung parliament any more or less than a May landslide? Either way I'm not sure where RBC get their "market expects a 125 Conservative majority" stat from" The reality is we don't know what's factored in. Fact !
For what it's worth I posted some oft-aired thoughts of mine yesterday here
UK voters head to the polling booths