UK Poll: High turnout as Labour runs into early lead

There was a high turnout of voters across constituencies on Thursday in the United Kingdom general election.

Polls opened at 7am and voters had until 10pm to express their choices among the 98 political parties that presented candidates for the exercise.

There were long queues in some polling stations, especially after the close of work, while others had sizeable numbers of voters. However, postal vote returns were said to be lower than normalolling day, underscoring a sort of apathy.

But, it is believed the turnout could be one of the highest in recent election history.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was the first leader to cast his vote at a polling station in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, with his wife, Akshata Murty.

Sunak hopes to be returned as the Conservative MP for Richmond and Northallerton.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was joined by his wife, Victoria, in North London, shortly before 10am to cast his ballot.

The election was the first in the UK history that voters were asked to show photo identification before receiving a ballot paper. The exit polls were done 10 pm yesterday.

Across the constituencies, it was gathered that Labour Party was on the ascendancy and it may portend the end of the Conservatives Party’s 14-year reign and a change of government.

If Labour has majority, Starmer will be elected. Sunak will give a speech on the steps of No 10 today (Friday) before heading off to Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles III, while Starmer moves into his new home.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who is the Conservative candidate in North West Essex, has hit out at her local council over missing postal votes after more than 2,600 were delayed in the constituency.

The cabinet minister wrote on X yesterday: “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.”

Last week, the council’s chief executive, Peter Holt, apologised for the error, stating that packs had been sent out to majority of postal voters.