London: Millions of people across the UK are set to vote in the general election on Thursday where the ruling Conservatives are predicted to secure an overall majority despite an energetic bid for power by the opposition Labour Party, the media reported.

Voting will begin at 7 am (local time) in over 40,000 polling stations across the country, the BBC reported.

Counting will start once the voting ends at 10 p.m.

A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 46.9 million people registered to vote. Some votes have already been cast, through postal voting.

A handful of seats will be declared by Thursday midnight, with the final results expected on Friday afternoon.

To form a majority in the House of Commons, one party must win 326 seats.

On Wednesday, the last day of election campaigning, Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "feeling good" and used her final push to pitch for what she termed as "fiercely patriotic" voters across Labour Party strongholds -- the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the north-east, reports the Guardian.

During a 48-hour tour of places in marginal constituencies such as Fleetwood, Bradford, Stoke, Southampton and Nottingham, she also made clear that she wanted people to vote in defiance of the terror attacks.

May also stressed to voters that there were only 11 days until the Brexit negotiations start, saying the "final" choice was between her or Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn, attended six rallies, starting at Glasgow, Scotland at 8 a.m. and ending in Islington, London with a speech at 9 p.m., where he claimed that Labour's anti-austerity message was the "new centre ground" of British politics.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron urged supporters to "send a message" to May on issues such as Brexit and social care by supporting his party.

Campaigning in Edinburgh, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said re-electing Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs would ensure Scotland retained a "strong voice" in Westminster and deny the Conservatives a "crushing majority", reports the BBC.

At their final election rally, the Green Party called on people to "vote with their hearts".

Visiting Great Yarmouth, UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Paul Nuttall said only his party could keep the pressure on the next government to deliver a "real Brexit" -- with lower immigration, exclusive fishing rights for British trawlers within UK territorial waters and no "divorce bill". </s> Polls are open across Britain today in local elections forecast to lead to devastating defeats for Labour.

Contests are being held in all Scottish and Welsh councils, more than 30 English councils and for six new regional mayors.

The results tomorrow will set the tone for the run into the general election on June 8 and Labour is braced for bruising defeats.

Jeremy Corbyn is expected to lose scores of seats to the Tories in results that will be seized upon as proof of how far he trails Theresa May.

And in Scotland the SNP is poised to complete its rout of Scottish Labour, potentially seizing the citadel of Glasgow, which Labour has run for decades.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was pictured voting in the city today and her party is expected to pick up seats across Scotland and will hope to stabilise a difficult start to the general election campaign.

One bright spot for Labour is expected in Manchester where Andy Burnham should complete a straightforward victory in the race to be mayor.

But there is a too-close-to-call race in the West Midlands, where Tory Andy Street could pull off a surprise victory in Labour-dominated territory.

The patchwork of results will not directly reflect voters intentions on June 8 but will be pored over for evidence of what might happen.

A recent poll by Rob Hayward, a Conservative peer and pollster, suggested Labour is likely to lose control of Glasgow council – which it has held for 30 years - in its former heartland.

Elections expert Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said it would be 'very very surprising if Labour retains control of any council in Scotland'.

Nearly 5,000 seats are being contested in 88 councils across the country. According to one analysis, Labour could lose 75 seats in England and more than 100 in Wales.

There are also important mayoral elections in six new devolved super-regions.

Elections are also being held for new 'super-mayors' in six devolved English regions.

Labour's Steve Rotherham should also win in Liverpool, in a region with seven of its safest parliamentary seats.

The Tories will hope to take Cambridgeshire and the West of England mayoralty, which covers Bath, Bristol, North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

The victorious candidates will take powers over policing, planning policy and control significant funds from central government.

The mayoralties were created by George Osborne as part of his attempts to devolve powers to English regions and strengthen local government.

In recent weeks, senior Labour figures have played up the importance of the local elections , and challenged Labour's poll ratings.

Last week a senior source said polls were often wrong, as recent elections had shown and shouldn't be trusted.

The source also said the locals were 'very important' for Mr Corbyn and an 'interesting measure of how well things are going'.

'On the cycle these are seats which are not in the metropolitan areas where Labour is traditionally strong,' he told the BBC's Daily Politics.

'Therefore one would expect given that we did relatively well the last time these seats were up for grabs that we would see a decline in their numbers.'

Normally at this point in the electoral cycle, the governing party would expect to lose council elections, which are traditionally a protest vote against whoever is in No10.

But an analysis by Professors Colin Rawlings and Michael Thrasher, directors of the Elections Centre at Plymouth University, suggests the Tories will pick up 115 seats in England county council and unitary authority elections, while Labour will lose 75. Lib Dem gains could also reach three figures.

In Wales, the poll put Labour losses at 130, and Tory gains 90. Labour could lose control of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport councils.

They also warned Ukip faces the 'near annihilation' of its 2013 intake of councillors, with 100 or more losses.

Party analysts are watching closely the results in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire for signs of whether Theresa May can take seats from Labour in the Midlands.

At the weekend Mr Burnham warned there would be 'serious consequences' unless Labour reconnected with the North of England. He said there was 'too much Hampstead and not enough Hull' in today's Labour Party.

Conservative Party Chairman Patrick McLoughlin said: 'Every vote cast in the elections today really matters.

'There is a clear choice – the competence of strong Conservative councils and elected mayors who will keep local taxes down with quality local services, versus the disarray of the rest.

'Conservative councils and mayors deliver more for less, improving local services and standing up for local people.' </s> Millions of people across the UK are set to vote in the general election on Thursday where the ruling Conservatives are predicted to secure an overall majority despite an energetic bid for power by the opposition Labour Party, the media reported.

Voting will begin at 7 a.m. (local time) in over 40,000 polling stations across the country, the BBC reported.

Counting will start once the voting ends at 10 p.m.

A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 46.9 million people registered to vote. Some votes have already been cast, through postal voting.

A handful of seats will be declared by Thursday midnight, with the final results expected on Friday afternoon.

To form a majority in the House of Commons, one party must win 326 seats.

On Wednesday, the last day of election campaigning, Prime Minister Theresa May said she was ‘feeling good’ and used her final push to pitch for what she termed as ‘fiercely patriotic’ voters across Labour Party strongholds — the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the north-east, reports the Guardian.

During a 48-hour tour of places in marginal constituencies such as Fleetwood, Bradford, Stoke, Southampton and Nottingham, she also made clear that she wanted people to vote in defiance of the terror attacks.

May also stressed to voters that there were only 11 days until the Brexit negotiations start, saying the ‘final’ choice was between her or Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn, attended six rallies, starting at Glasgow, Scotland at 8 a.m. and ending in Islington, London with a speech at 9 p.m., where he claimed that Labour’s anti-austerity message was the ‘new centre ground’ of British politics.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron urged supporters to ‘send a message’ to May on issues such as Brexit and social care by supporting his party.

Campaigning in Edinburgh, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said re-electing Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs would ensure Scotland retained a ’strong voice’ in Westminster and deny the Conservatives a “crushing majority”, reports the BBC.

At their final election rally, the Green Party called on people to ‘vote with their hearts’.

Visiting Great Yarmouth, UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Paul Nuttall said only his party could keep the pressure on the next government to deliver a ‘real Brexit’ — with lower immigration, exclusive fishing rights for British trawlers within UK territorial waters and no ‘divorce bill’. </s> Voters have been going to the polls today for European elections widely expected to be defined by apathy and anger.

Polls are open for the European Parliamentary elections until 10pm to elect MEPs who will represent the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Despite fears of a low turnout, there was a slow but steady trickle at the Forge polling station on Cottage Beck Road in Scunthorpe this morning.

For some, frustration about delays over Brexit was what motivated them to go out and vote in today's elections, which if pollsters are correct, is expected to result in large support for The Brexit Party.

Britain was initially due to leave the European Union on March 29 but two extensions have now delayed Brexit until October 31.

The Government had hoped to pass a Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament to remove the need to hold European Parliamentary elections and leave the EU sooner, but a majority has yet to be reached in the House Of Commons on any deal.

After casting his vote in Scunthorpe, Graham Wilkinson said: "Politics is a shambles at the moment. I wanted to vote for change and get Brexit. I wouldn't vote for any of the other charlatans."

Others said they felt it was their duty to use their right vote, no matter what the election.

Darryl Hewes said: "I think it's important to vote every time you can, whether it's a meaningless election like this or a general election. There's a lot of people all around the world that don't have the opportunity to vote.

"It might not mean a lot in the grand scheme, but it's important to do it anyway."

Neville Watson said: "I vote in every election, no matter what it's for. There's no point in having a vote if you don't use it."

Pollster YouGov has predicted that Nigel Farage's newly-formed Brexit Party will win three seats in the Yorkshire and Humber region following today's election. A recent poll had the Brexit Party on 33 per cent, Labour on 18, the Lib Dems on 16, the Greens on 13, the Conservatives on eight, Change UK on four and Ukip on three.

A full list of candidates standing for election in the Yorkshire and Humber region is available here.

The MEPs elected will represent the UK until it leaves the European Union, whether that is a matter of months or years.

Polls will be open until 10pm tonight. However, the results will not be announced until late on Sunday evening once all countries in the European Union have voted, with candidates from the Yorkshire and Humber region travelling to Leeds for the announcement.

The EU voting system uses the unconventional d'Hondt system which tends to let smaller parties perform better electorally - find out more about this and all your other European election questions here. </s> MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Conservative Party of the United Kingdom has improved its positions in a series of local and mayoral elections held across the party, local media reported Friday.

On Thursday, local elections were held across the United Kingdom with a total of 4,851 council seats up for election.

The Liberal Democrats took 143 seats, the Greens obtained five, while the UK Independence Party (UKIP) had not won any seats at the moment, the news outlet added.

According to the broadcaster, the Conservative Party won control over 10 authorities, while the Labour Party received five. </s> Voters in Britain cast their ballots on Thursday for the elections, as the political deadlock over the UK's withdrawal from the bloc continues.

Voting began at 7 a.m. and vote stations were set to close at 10 p.m. (local time). The announcement of results will begin on Sunday night, after the rest of the member states have gone to the polls over the next three days.

Britain is split into 12 regions for the elections, including 9 in England and one each in Scotland, and British voters will elect 73 members to the (MEPs) out of the 751 for a term that starts on July 2, the reported.

The election was being held in a climate of widespread voter apathy over the uncertainty surrounding Brexit as the has rejected Theresa May's deal three times and there had been calls for a second referendum.

The results from Britain will show whether the newly launched Brexit Party, founded by veteran eurosceptic Nigel Farage, will win the largest number of the 73 British seats in the as is forecast.

In Liverpool, England, retired said she would vote for opposition

Roy said she had considered spoiling her ballot paper. "But upon reflection, I have decided I must vote (for) Labour, mainly because I trust them, more than any other party, to deliver Brexit."

Roy, who voted to leave in the 2016 referendum, said, "More than anything else, I want this issue sorted so that we can address the issues, which are running down our country."

Initially, the were not planned as Britain prepared to leave the EU on March 29. But at the European summit in April, the and the agreed to delay Brexit until October 31.

The UK is obligated to participate in the as it is still a member of the EU. But it's uncertain for how long British MEPs will continue because of the uncertainties over Brexit.

The are the 9th time Britain has elected MEPs to the European Parliament.

Theresa May's in the European Parliament have 18 seats, the same as Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, followed by with 14 seats, which earlier belonged to the

The rest of the seats are held by others, including two of Nicola Sturgeon's and one of Vince Cable's </s> Britain’s political parties will soon be fighting another by-election (special election) after Welsh Conservative Chris Davies was unseated by his own constituents in a recall petition, the second successful use of the removal mechanism ever.

Chris Davies, who represented the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency until today had pleaded guilty for submitting false expenses claims earlier this year. His conviction for the offence was followed by a recall petition which has now succeeded.

His seat had previously been held by the Liberal Democrats, who will particularly target the seat, despite Davies having secured a strong majority of 8,038 for the Conservatives in 2018. Their candidate for the forthcoming election said of the Davies: “Thousands of residents across Brecon and Radnorshire have taken the chance to demand better than a Westminster politics that fails to take their concerns seriously.

“Now we have a golden opportunity to do things differently. The clear choice in this by-election is between the Conservatives, whose chaos and infighting is letting our communities down, and a better future for our area with the Welsh Lib Dems.”

The Liberal Democrats have been enjoying a period of unusually high support given their position as the only major UK political party who campaign on a fully anti-Brexit, pro-European Union platform. Indeed, their European Union election campaign manifesto was titled ‘Bollocks to Brexit’.

The position of opposing Brexit is a minority opinion in the United Kingdom, however, and the only national political party fully supporting a full Brexit is enjoying even higher support — the Brexit Party. Nigel Farage’s new political force has been at the top of the Westminster general election polls for three weeks.

Brexit Party Chairman Richard Tice said of Davies’ removal by voters: “The sheer scale of the vote to force a recall and a by-election shows how strongly the level of dissatisfaction with politics in the country is rising up the agenda. The Brexit Party will be contesting the forthcoming by-election.

“It is clear that people of this county want to change politics for good.”

The party may enjoy a boost in Brecon and Radnorshire, given the area voted to leave the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum, as did Wales as a whole. Nathan Gill, a Brexit Party Euro-MP for Wales said of the forthcoming special election: “This is a great opportunity for the people of Brecon and Radnorshire, who voted to Leave the EU in the 2016 Referendum and confirmed that vote in the recent European Elections where they voted overwhelmingly for the Brexit Party to elect a Brexit Party MP and make history.”

The 2015 recall law provides that if a tenth of the voters in an MP’s constituency sign a petition of removal, that member is forced to stand down. In Davies’ case, almost double that number signed the petition which was handed to local government auditors for verification and counting this week.

The last use of the recall was in Peterborough, where Labour’s pro-Europe Fiona Onasanya was convicted of perverting the course of justice and subsequently removed. </s> The counting for the United Kingdom general election started on Friday early morning. As initial numbers pour in, the Labour Party have won 154 and was a little ahead of the Conservatives who has bagged 140 so far.

The Labours have managed to retain their seats in Newcastle Central, Houghton, Sunderland South, Birmingham Ladywood, Manchester Central, and Cambridge among others. The Conservatives won seats in Uxbridge, Copeland, Chesham, Ribble Valley, Norwich North and Cleethorpeks among others.

According to BBC exit poll, the Conservatives are predicted to win 322 seats against the Labour Party’s 261. Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats are expected to win 32 and 13 seats, respectively. There were 76 seats which were being too close to call, the BBC poll said. Other opinion polls had earlier suggested that the Conservatives would take a lead and retain control of Parliament. However, a day before the election day, the Labour Party managed to narrow the gap.

More than 46.9 million electorate from across England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland voted to pick 650 MPs from over 3,300 candidates. The final results are expected by Friday afternoon. To form a majority in the House of Commons, a party has to win 326 seats.

The incumbent prime minister, Theresa May, is competing against the Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn. In the 2015 elections, the Conservatives held 331 seats, the Labour Party bagged 232, the Scottish National Party had 56 and Liberal Democrat won 8 seats.

Following the early election results, the pound fell sharply as the market had expected a clear victory for May. Sterling fell as low as $1.27, reported BBC. At 1.30 am, the pound even hit a new low of $1.2696. However, it started to recover a little as Conservatives made gains in Scotland, The Telegraph reported.

“It is fair to say markets had been a little complacent about this result,” a senior analyst at ETX Capital, Neil Wilson, told BBC. “If the election results in a hung parliament, the pound could fall as low as $1.25 on Friday.”

On April 18, May had called for a snap election three years earlier than scheduled, saying it would help Britain make a smooth exit from the European Union. The last few weeks of campaigning have been marred with national security concerns with the country facing successive attacks claimed by militant groups.

On the night of June 3, a van drove into people near the London Bridge, killing eight people and injuring several. Two weeks before that 22 people had died in a suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester. In March 2017, a man had mowed people down with his vehicle on the Westminster bridge while heading to the Parliament building. At least 40 others were injured in the incident. </s> Labour in denial: 'Not the wipeout people expected'

Conservatives: 'Not in the bag'

Liberal Democrats: Not as bad as Labour

UK Prime Minister Theresa May's party made significant gains in England and Wales, just five weeks before the country goes to the polls for the June 8 general election.The Conservatives appeared to benefit from the collapse of UKIP, now that the Tories have captured the pro-Brexit demographic.Thousands of voters across England, Wales, and Scotland went to the polls on Thursday to decide the fate of almost 5,000 council seats and to elect six new metro mayors.With full results declared by 17 of the 88 councils holding elections, the Tories had control of nine authorities, including five gains.May's party had 429 councilors, a net gain of 109, while Labour had 231, a net loss of 58. UKIP failed to win a single seat - a loss of 30.Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell acknowledged Labour had suffered a "tough" night as it struggled with some of its Welsh heartlands and failed to resist Tory advances in England.He told ITV's Good Morning Britain the results were not "the wipeout that people expected" and insisted it is still "all to play for" in the general election in just five weeks' time.Before the results came in, Labour played down expectations of the party's performance, accepting that Labour could be set to lose hundreds of council seats, particularly in Scotland and Wales."These elections are a challenging set of contests held in unique circumstances," a Labour spokesperson told the Guardian."They're individual contests being fought in very differing situations, from local council-level issue-driven campaigns up to large mayoral fights with some well-known politicians."Nonetheless, Labour has been making the case up and down the country that Labour representatives, both locally and nationally, will stand up for the many whilst the Conservative party stands up only for the few. That's what we'll be doing all the way through to June 8 and we are confident that will start to resonate as we get closer to that date."Labour is playing down its sweeping local election losses, with MPs advised to call the results a "mixed picture" and to stress Tory gains in Wales have "failed to materialize," the party's leaked election script reveals.The party is down more than 100 seats so far, has lost majorities on three Welsh councils and has been replaced by the Conservatives as the largest party on Cumbria County Council. Labour has lost overall control of its traditional stronghold of Glasgow City Council for the first time in nearly 40 years.Despite the apparently dismal showing, Labour MPs have been advised to say the results are merely "disappointing" and that the party has done "better than people were predicting.""Some of the predictions of doom and gloom across the board aren't quite panning out as some thought," the script said."There are some disappointing results, but there are good ones too such as holding on to the councils in Neath Port Talbot and Newport."One success the party will be stressing is retaining Welsh seats in Swansea, Cardiff and Newport councils, the latter of which the party will say was a Tory target. Candidates are also being told to suggest the Tory surge is down to the UKIP collapse, and say the results are being judged against a high point for the party in 2012.Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell remains staunchly behind Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn."It has been tough, there's no doubt about that, but it hasn't been the wipeout that some people predicted or the polls predicted ... In areas it's quite mixed," he told Radio 4's Today program."I'm not underestimating the challenge that we face right the way across the country. But what I'm saying is, to try to be as objective as I possibly can, it isn't the wipeout that many predicted. It is much better."Speaking to Sky News, Labour MP Diane Abbott said the defection of UKIP supporters to the Tories was "one of the pivotal factors" in Thursday's vote.She conceded that "some of those UKIP voters that are going to the Tories are former Labour voters," and said that in a general election "we have to turn them out and get them to vote Labour."Abbott said overall the morning's results had been "disappointing" but stressed "you cannot extrapolate from local elections to the general."She added the results "certainly don't mean that the general election [of June 8] is done and dusted for Theresa May."Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, was a dissenting voice, however, going against the party line. He criticized the party's performance and the impact of Corbyn's leadership, saying the results painted a "disastrous picture.""It's simply not good enough for a party that's been in opposition for seven years, that's heading towards a general election in five weeks, to not be picking up seats and not be making forward progress," he said, according to the Mirror."What we need to do is recognize that we have got a mountain to climb over the next five weeks and it's about time we started climbing it."I think we can't just put a spin on this - the fact of the matter is that Jeremy's leadership does come up on the doorstep on a very regular basis. What we have to do is make this election about more than leadership, we've got to make it about the future of our country."UKIP faces being wiped out at the ballot box after failing to hold onto a single seat at the local elections. Paul Nuttall's party lost all its seats in Lincolnshire, Hampshire, and Essex - all key battlegrounds for UKIP at next month's general election.As a sign of how bad a night it endured, "UKIP 0" was trending on Twitter on Friday, as others said "RIP" to the party.Curtice said UKIP "has lost everything they've been trying to defend."Lisa Duffy, a former contender for UKIP's leadership, insisted the results are not a "disaster" but acknowledged they were "very disappointing.""I won't use the word disaster," she told the BBC. "I'll use the word 'challenging.' We knew it was going to be a difficult night."The Conservatives appeared to benefit from a collapse in UKIP's vote in England and Wales, a trend which will likely boost May's chances of strengthening her grip on power in the general election.Curtice said the Tories had so far put forward their best election performance since at least 2008, with an average swing of seven points from Labour to the Tories since 2013.Tory Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said the outcome is "very encouraging," but denied the general election is in the bag. Tory minister Brandon Lewis said May would take the early results as "encouraging" but that "there are still a lot of councils to declare.""We can't assume that what happens in local elections will be automatically replicated in general elections," he told the BBC."There's a long way to go, there's a lot of work to do, we have got to work for every vote out there to make sure that we return Theresa May with a clear mandate on June 8."The Liberal Democrats have managed to cling onto more seats than Labour in England.The party managed to increase its vote share and hold on to many of its seats. It is still suffering at the hands of the Tories and may struggle to get a substantial number of seats in next month's election.On Friday morning, the Lib Dems had 111 councilors, a net loss of nine.Sir Vince Cable, former Lib Dem business secretary, called the night "neutral," telling the Independent his party's overall vote share had increased significantly."We're in a relatively encouraging position, though there hasn't been a spectacular breakthrough," he said.
The British people vote locally.