LONDON: Britain will hold an election on Thursday, at a time when public dissatisfaction with a range of issues is growing.
High living costs, a stagnant economy, a broken healthcare system and crumbling infrastructure – some disillusioned voters have turned to the populist Reform Party.
Its controversial Brexit leader, Nigel Farage, has been attracting increasing numbers of Conservative voters with his promise to “take back our country”.
Opponents have long accused Farage of stoking racist attitudes towards migrants and condemned what they call scapegoating rhetoric. They say the problem is the underfunding of schools, hospitals and housing by governments of both the right and the left, not migrants.
Polls show Farage with a clear lead in Clacton-on-Sea, a town on the southeast coast of England where many older, white voters once unwaveringly supported the ruling Conservative Party.
It is unclear what impact his party will have on winning seats in parliament, although it could spoil the result by taking votes away from conservative candidates.
Farage, who has lost seven parliamentary campaigns, was a rare party leader who did not go to the polls on Thursday. He voted early by post.
All voters must show identification for the first time in a general election.
For the first time in general election history, all voters in the UK were required to show ID on Thursday.
A change in the law will require voters in England, Scotland and Wales from 2023 to prove their identity by showing a passport, driving licence and a dozen other acceptable forms of ID.
Since 1985, voters in Northern Ireland have been required to produce an identity document, and since 2003, a photographic ID.
The 2022 Electoral Bill, introduced by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, came into effect, ironically, earlier this year when Johnson tried to vote without ID in local elections in South Oxfordshire.
He was turned away, but later returned with an ID card and cast his vote.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, who urged voters to take a “leap of faith”, voted in his constituency on the outskirts of London.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey voted on Thursday in an election that could see his left-wing party win more seats in parliament.
Davey’s Liberal Democrats are trying to gain influence in southern England where the Conservatives are under threat as their party’s popularity has plummeted after 14 years in power.
Davey’s stunt-filled campaign was a publicity stunt. He fell off a paddleboard into a lake, braved rollercoasters and bungee jumps, urging voters to take a “leap of faith.”
When Parliament was dissolved in May, the party held 15 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.
The party has promised to improve Britain’s ailing health and social care systems, including introducing free home nursing care. It wants to lower the voting age to 16 and rejoin the EU’s single market. Davey has backed the case for holding water companies accountable for dumping sewage into rivers.
Davey, who was first elected to Parliament in 1997, greeted members of the media as he arrived with his wife Emily to vote at a Methodist church in Surbiton, a suburb of south-west London.
“It’s a beautiful day,” he said as he left the polling station. “I hope a lot of people come out to vote.”
Communities across the UK, such as Henley-on-Thames, are facing fierce battles as traditional party loyalties take a back seat to more pressing concerns about the economy, crumbling infrastructure and the National Health Service.
Although traditionally a Conservative stronghold, the area known for its famous regattas could be changing its face. The Conservatives, who took power during the world’s worst financial crisis, have been hit by sluggish growth, falling public services and a series of scandals, making them easy targets for critics from both the left and right.
“This is a blue (Conservative) town, always has been,” said Sam Wilkinson, the restaurant’s manager. “My generation won’t necessarily vote blue, necessarily, but at the same time, who else do you vote for? It’s really tough. I just care about my kids, hopefully more money for education and the arts.”
Residents, including retiree Patricia Mulcahy, steadily flocked to the polling station.
“The younger generation is much more interested in change,” she said. “So I think whatever happens in Henley, in the country, there will be a huge change. But whoever gets there will have a hell of a job ahead of them. It won’t be easy.”
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is seeking re-election as an independent candidate, posted a photo of himself voting in his north London constituency on Thursday.
Corbyn, a socialist who has won every general election for Labour since 1983, was suspended from the party and barred from standing as a Labour candidate after its leaders faced accusations of anti-Semitism.
He became deeply unpopular when Labour suffered its worst defeat since 1935 in 2019.
Keir Starmer was elected leader to replace Corbyn, and has rebuilt him, moving him closer to the centre. Pollsters and politicians expect Labour to win the most seats.
Corbyn posted a photo of himself on social media platform X with his right thumbs up and wrote: “Just voted independent in Islington North. Heard it’s OK.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer voted on Thursday in an election that is widely expected to return his party to power for the first time in 14 years, and will see him become prime minister.
Starmer, who has warned his supporters not to take the election for granted despite polls and politicians predicting a landslide victory, voted in his London borough.
Even before the campaign began six weeks ago, polls gave Labour a double-digit lead.
Starmer spent all his time travelling around the UK urging voters to vote for change.
He promised to revive the ailing economy, invest in the country’s crumbling infrastructure and repair the shattered National Health Service, founded in 1945 by his centre-left party.
Scottish National Party leader John Swinney voted as his party struggles to stem a wave of support from rival Labour.
Swinney, who in May became the third leader of the Scottish National Party in just a year, has tried to bring stability to a party in disarray.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s long-serving First Minister, abruptly resigned last year amid a campaign finance investigation that ultimately led to criminal charges against her husband, who is also party leader.
Swinney joined the party at the age of 15 and was its leader from 2000 to 2004.
Swinney said that if his party wins a majority of seats in Scotland, he would try to start negotiations on Scottish independence with the London-based UK government. He wants to rejoin the European Union and the European single market.
Swinney went to the polls at Burrelton Village Hall in Perthshire with his 13-year-old son Matthew.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cast his vote on Thursday in the national election that will decide whether he remains in office.
Sunak, who has sought to bring stability to the embattled Conservative Party since taking over as leader in October 2022, has spent the past six weeks trying to persuade voters across the UK to give his party another term after 14 years in power.
Polls and politicians widely predict that Labour will win for the first time since 2005.
Sunak’s campaign got off to a rocky start when he called a snap election in 10 Downing Street in torrential rain in May.
It was expected that he would have to wait until the fall, when the expected improvement in the economic situation should give him a better chance.
Sunak voted shortly after polls opened in his constituency in Yorkshire, northern England.
British voters will elect a new government on Thursday after polls opened at 7am in a general election that is widely expected to bring the opposition Labour Party to power.
Against a backdrop of economic crisis, growing distrust of government institutions and a breakdown in social bonds, a divided electorate is reaching its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010.
Keir Starmer’s left-of-centre Labour Party has held a significant lead in opinion polls for months, but Labour leaders have warned against disregarding the election results, fearing their supporters will stay at home.
Sunak, for his part, tried to unite his supporters, saying on Sunday he still believed the Conservatives could win and defending his record on the economy.