General election – live: Keir Starmer and Sunak join millions voting across UK today

Opinion polling has consistently suggested the election will mark the end of 14 years of Conservative governance, with Labour flying ahead in projected voting intention. Some surveys predict smaller parties including the Lib Dems, Greens and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could pick up record numbers of seats.

The true picture will remain unclear until Friday. Before that, the electorate must take to their local polling stations to cast their votes (if they have not done so already via a postal vote).

To ensure everyone gets a fair and equal chance to participate in this democratic process, there are a number of rules in place, which must be followed in and around polling stations.

Here’s everything you need to know about polling day:

The Association of Electoral Administrators has demanded to overhaul Britain’s postal vote system.

The body, which represents electoral officers and administrators, has said the system is no longer adequate after widespread reports of delays in ballot paper deliveries.

Deputy chief executive Laura Lock said: “Election teams are doing their very best to run this snap election, but with a short timetable and an election held when many are on holiday – plus print and delivery suppliers working at capacity – demand has severely tested the system.”

She also urged for people who have not received their postal votes to be allowed emergency proxy votes on polling day.

Nigel Farage dissed Rishi Sunak in a Facebook video posted earlier today, urging followers not to panic.

Speaking in what seems to be a food truck surrounded by various sauces and bread buns, he said: “But I think Rishi is panicking.”

The attack came after sources from Sunak’s inner circle said the PM is fearful of losing his seat in his Yorkshire constituency at the election. If his fear comes true, Mr Sunak would be the first sitting PM to lose his constituency.

An election eve poll for The Independent predicts a Tory wipeout, saying Sunak may only hold 82 seats in Parliament. Even worse, a mid-June poll suggested the PM might only retain 53 seats.

A separate June poll forecasts Mr Farage’s party to beat the Tories, with Reform UK’s popularity seemingly unaffected by Mr Farage’s previous comments about Putin and Ukraine.

Mr Sunak is rumoured to be considering a return to the finance industry regardless of his election results.

This came after parliament passed the Elections Act in April 2022, enacting a recommendation the Electoral Commission first made in 2014.

Voter ID is now required at by-elections and recall petitions, general elections, local elections and referendums in England, and Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales.

The second highest number is 412, won by Labour in 2001 and also by the Conservatives in 1924.

The fewest seats won by the Conservatives at any general election since the party was formally established in the 1830s is 156 in 1906, followed by 165 in 1997.

The Labour Party was founded in 1900 and won two seats in the general election of that year, followed by 29 at the next election in 1906.

Since 1945, the number of seats won by Labour has never dropped below 200.

It won’t be long before we find out if Starmer has delivered a 1997-style landslide for Labour, Richard Benson writes.

He writes: “If there’s a difference, between then and now it’s in the mood. Post-pandemic, current-cost of living crisis, people are angrier and more bitter, and that feels intensified by social media, which expresses and fosters hate much better than it does laughter.

“By 1997, money had started to come back into the economy, and the ubiquitous spite of social media hadn’t poisoned the national mindset; where 2023 has furious memes, the 1990s had a Viz cartoon about a corrupt Tory called Baxter Basics.”

Read the full article here:

The business secretary has attacked her local council over missing postal votes after people reported delays in delivery and printing.

More than 2,600 paper ballots have been delayed in North West where Ms Badenoch is attempting to get re-elected.

The cabinet minister blasted local authorities and accused them of “forgetting to send ballot papers”.

Ms Badenoch said: “Five years ago, all but four Conservatives on Uttlesford council were voted out. People wanted ‘Change’. Instead, they got ‘Change for the WORSE’, electing an independent residents group who ran a blame-the-Tories campaign.

“The community is now saddled with council leadership unable to carry out basic functions competently. Now they’ve potentially disenfranchised up to 2,600 postal voters by FORGETTING to send them their ballot papers. Don’t change for the worse.”

But the campaign trail was shaken by the last-minute addition of Nigel Farage as the new leader of Reform UK, chasing the PM’s tail in shock polls which saw the party only marginally behind the Conservatives in the vote share.

Here is a breakdown of exactly when to expect the key results on general election night: