17:42: After four weeks of hectic campaigning, the main party leaders all lay low on Thursday afternoon, resting up for a long night ahead, following the vote count into the early hours.
After voting on Thursday morning, Labour leader Gordon Brown was not expected to make any further public appearances before attending the count in his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath count, his officials said. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said he planned to go for a country walk in his Sheffield Hallam constituency, while David Cameron return to his home in his Witney constituency, near Oxford.
17:05: Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has spoken to reporters saying he is "lucky to be alive" after the crash of his light plane earlier today. (See earlier posts).
16:45: One of the most high-profile users of Twitter in the campaign, Gordon Brown's wife Sarah, has signed off with her final campaign tweet, and blog.
"This morning we have already been out to vote," she said, adding that she had enjoyed travelling the country in the past four weeks, and, just for the avoidance of doubt, she had voted Labour. See the link here: http://www2.labour.org.uk/sarah
16:15: No official word on turnout as yet, of course, but several sites are reporting anecdotal evidence of higher turnout than in recent elections. The BBC says turnout in the village of Slad, in Gloucestershire, often hits 100%. Possibly not unrelated to the fact that the polling station is the village pub.
15:29: Celebs are out in force today casting their votes -- and mentioning it on Twitter. Besides Sir Ben Kingsley and Bob Hoskins who we spotted early this morning, other famous voters so far include comedians John Cleese and Eddie Izzard and TV host Sarah Beeny.
Cleese kept it simple with a one-word tweet. "Vote!", he urged.
Izzard, a well-known Labour supporter, also used his Twitter page to encourage citizens to get out and vote today. And fellow comedian Carr tweeted: "Went to vote & saw Alan Davies - they didn't have a VIP booth, I asked. Have you voted? You have to or you can't complain for 5 years."
Beeny said it took her until the very last minute to make up her mind in the polling booth: "have to admit still wasn't sure where to put the cross even with the pencil in hand!!" she wrote on Twitter.
David Mitchell, of Peep Show fame, tweeted that he was getting ready for Channel 4's election show tonight. "At least I'm not the only man bricking it in Britain today," he quipped.
1507: The BBC has some advice - courtesy of Nigel Tonkin, Westminster Council head of administrative services - for voters on what they can and cannot do in polling stations.
To summarise, he says, you can bring a child to the polling station, bring a pet, vote when tipsy (but not if completely inebriated), and can wear something covering your face so long as you agree to answer questions to prove your identity.
You cannot take a photo, film or interview people inside the polling station, play loud music, talk to fellow voters about the candidates, ask someone who they are voting for, or wear 'political clothing' that would intimidate other voters.
Pyjamas, Nigel says, "are fine, provided they're not indecent. And so is a builder who's stripped to the waist." But not, presumably, if they are a female builder. "A topless woman wouldn't be appropriate as voters might get distracted," he adds. The advice in full can be seen here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8661984.stm
14:45: Northamptonshire police at the scene of the plane crash involving former UKIP leader Nigel Farage (see earlier posts) say that both Farage and pilot Justin Adams are lucky to be alive. The plane ended up on its roof, upside down, but both men walked away from the crash.
"Looking at the wreckage behind me, I think you can make your own judgement as to how lucky they were," Detective Chief Inspector Martin Kinchin said. Farage's campaign manager said it appeared that a banner the plane was towing had become wrapped around the tail as it came in to land.
14:16: Some news from Wales and Scotland now.
The BBC reports that Ieuan Wyn Jones, the leader of Plaid Cymru, has cast his vote in the town of Llangefni in north Wales. He represents Ynys Mon in the Welsh Assembly.
Elsewhere, Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond -- who is not actually standing again for the Westminster parliament after deciding to focus instead on Scotland's Holyrood -- voted in MacDuff, Banffshire.
13:58: With not much left to do besides wait for the election results, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg decided it was time for tea and cakes. He promptly invited the reporters that have followed him around on the campaign trail into his kitchen for a cupcake, the Press Association reported.
Clegg recently said that it was "not my home, it's yours" when challenged about his expenses claims.
13:17: More wacky polling places: people in Devon are casting their votes in a hairdresser's shop, while in Cornwall a tiny caravan has been converted into a poll booth. In a supermarket in Fulbourn, Cambridge, voters can combine casting their ballots with doing the weekly shop.
12:45: If Facebook votes counted, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg would appear to be home and dry already.
Clegg, whose party stood in second or even third place in the latest polls before voting began Thursday, got 42% of the vote in a Facebook poll for best prime minister, conducted May 1-3, way out in front of Tory leader David Cameron (31%), and Labour leader Gordon Brown (27%).
Another poll on Facebook, still underway on Thursday, looks even better for the Lib Dems, giving the party 36% of 29,000 online votes cast, against 17% for the Tories and 14% for Labour. Cheering news for Lib Dems, of course, but not a result they expect to see replicated in the 'real' election, where the Conservatives remain favourites and Labour is expected to place second in terms of seats at least.
12:15: Most of the attention in the elections is focusing, of course, on the major parties and their leaders. But many parties and surprising figures are on the ballot papers.
Some are publicity seekers. One candidate, challenging former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith in Chingford and Woodford Green, is keen for some degree of anonymity, however, the Press Association reports. He (it is apparently a 'he') is listed simply as: Surname: Above - Other names: None of the.
11:43: So all the major party leaders have now voted. In total, just over 44 million people are registered to vote in this election, with 649 seats in parliament up for grabs. Local polls are also taking place in some parts of the country.
Across Britain, turnout at the last election in 2005 was just over 61%, fractionally up on 59% who voted in 2001. Before those polls, turnout had never fallen below 70% in any election since 1945. Turnout could be crucial in this election.
11:31: The media are swarming all over Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and his wife Miriam. Clegg has just cast his vote in his Sheffield constituency. His wife, who is Spanish, is not allowed to vote in the general election.
Smiling and talking with the press and constituents, Clegg said he was having "a very nice morning".
"I don't think my vote is a secret," he joked.
11:24: More of the party leaders have now voted. At the polling station near his Scottish home, a smiling Gordon and Sarah Brown cast their ballots. "Nice to see you," he shouted to reporters.
A polling official told the BBC that early turnout in Brown's constituency was considerably higher than at the last election in 2005. At the last election, Brown won his seat comfortably with 58.1% of the vote. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is also due to vote soon.
11:09: Boris Johnson, London's Tory mayor, was slightly more verbose. "I think we'll have a strong Conservative victory tonight and walking around London yesterday and today, I feel very strongly that the swing is on and the public are in the mood for change," he told reporters after cycling to his local polling station in Islington.
11:03: When asked how he was feeling after casting his vote, David Cameron told reporters: "Good, thanks. I am feeling good, I will leave it at that."
10:56: It didn't take long. Some, presumably anti-Tory, wits have taken the Sun's mock-up photo of David Cameron, styled as Barack Obama, and altered it to say: "Nope" instead of "Hope". It is doing the rounds on Twitter, and can be seen on http://www.twitpic.com/1lcq0v.
Mockery of campaign posters has been one of the features of this campaign.
10:43: Labour leader Gordon Brown is not far behind Cameron - in voting at least. He's due, with wife Sarah, at the polling station near his North Queensferry home in about 10 minutes, our reporter Paul tells us. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is preparing to vote too.
10:32: And yes, bang on cue, David and Samantha Cameron have arrived at the polling station in Witney, the first of the party leaders to vote. He was smiling, but did not talk to reporters on the way in. She was wearing a purple dress, and for those interested in the minutiae of tie-watch, he was clad with a green tie. Is there a 'Vote blue, go green' message there?
10:30: An update from my colleague Will Davies in Witney. The pranksters with the Eton banner have been brought down from the roof of the polling station. Perhaps David Cameron can be expected soon, then.
So far, voter turnout seems quite high, colleagues continue to report, but none of the party leaders have yet voted. The day's main shocking event so far is the crash involving UKIP former leader Nigel Farage.
10:26: A UKIP spokesman tells my colleague Alice Ritchie the party is very concerned about the condition of the plane's pilot (see 09:47) but Nigel Farage seems OK and that the party's campaign itself will continue. "We will continue as before but the campaign in Buckingham has had a bit of a hiatus," he said. Officials would not be saying more until the status of the pilot was confirmed.
10:18: It's a grey and drizzly morning in Nick Clegg's Sheffield Hallam constituency too, says my colleague Thomas Walker. Coffee and bacon sandwiches are keeping the reporters going as they await the arrival of the Lib Dem leader, he adds.
10:15: More fun at the polling station in David Cameron's Witney constituency. The police tell our reporter they are getting in a specialist climbing team to tackle the pranksters on the roof. The roof is all of 2.5 metres high, our unimpressed reporter says. "We want to make sure the next prime minister is from Eton to get rid of the oiks who have ruined this country," one of the two men, who claims his name is Sebastian, shouts down to reporters.
09:50: It's freezing cold and raining in North Queensferry, Fife, where Gordon Brown lives, reports AFP's Paul Barber. The prime minister is expected to cast his vote there in the next half hour.
09:47: UKIP officials have told an AFP colleague the former party leader had been bloodied by the crash but was able to walk away from the crash site. The plane's pilot was more seriously hurt, they said. The plane had been flying a banner saying: "Vote for your country - Vote UKIP" reports said.
09:23: Reports said UKIP's former party leader Nigel Farage has suffered minor injuries in a light plane crash in Northamptonshire. Police confirmed to AFP reports of the crash, but declined to name those injured. Farage is running against House of Commons speaker John Bercow.
09:05: Early voting was brisk at one of the most unusual polling stations in the country, the Anglesea Arms pub in the upmarket London district of Kensington, my colleague Robin Millard said.
The restaurant section at the back of the pub has been converted for the day and dozens of people cast their vote soon after it opened for business at 7:00am. Some voters were performing their democratic duty while on the school run and dragged their children along with them.
08:40: A bungalow bedroom is doubling up as a polling station in a Cambridgeshire village. Retired hairdresser Carmelia Bond from Chettisham, near Ely, offered up her son's room because there was no other central place for locals to vote. "He's asked me to make sure that all the people going in there to vote wipe their feet," Bond told the Cambridge News.
08:15: In a stark reminder that the next prime minister will inherit deep economic problems, the FTSE 100 index opened down 1.27 percent at 5,274.03 points, as investors continue to fret over the Greek financial crisis.
08:04: Some online research tells me that Hoskins won't be voting Labour this time around. "Tony Blair sort of killed it for me," Hoskins told the Telegraph last month. "I am quite tempted by the Greens," he added, "but it is quite a leap."
07:57: It's all happening at Cameron's polling station. Now the Mirror's man-in-a-chicken-suit -- who followed Cameron around on the campaign trail -- has arrived at Spelsbury Memorial Hall.
07:50: Showing that it can equal Witney for star power, actor Bob Hoskins is standing in line behind our AFP reporter Leon Neal outside a Muswell Hill polling station.
Leon reports that there are long queues of people waiting to cast their votes here in this leafy part of north London.
07:44: The Mirror, which backs Labour, used its front page to highlight Cameron's privileged background, showing him in a photograph during his days at Oxford University, and urging: "Don't let Cam con you... vote Labour."
07:42: More excitement at Cameron's polling station. It seems two male pranksters have positioned themselves on the roof of the Spelsbury Memorial Hall drinking champagne and holding up a banner saying: "Britons - Know your place... Vote Eton, vote Tory".
07:40: The first celebrity voter has been spotted. AFP reporter Will Davies saw award-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley walk into a polling station in Witney, Oxfordshire -- which just so happens to be where David Cameron is expected to cast his vote later this morning. No word yet on who Kingsley plans to vote for.
07:32: In a last-ditch attempt to woo voters, The Sun's front page is carrying a full-page picture of David Cameron, mocked up in the style of the famous red, blue and yellow photo of Barack Obama , with the words "Our only hope".
07:30: AFP reporter Robert Leslie reports that the first person to vote at his local polling place in Sevenoaks, Kent, was a man in his thirties who arrived five seconds before the doors opened. As a commuter town, many of the Sevenoaks polling stations are expected to be busy this morning as people vote before going to work.
07:14: While most of us will be voting in a church hall or a school, some polling stations are a bit more unusual. The BBC have sent one of their reporters to a castle in Cornwall, and AFP will be joining voters in a pub in South Kensington later today.
07:00: Polling stations are open, here we go!
06:55: More than 40,000 polling stations around the country are readying to open in just a few minutes, and more than 44 million people are registered to vote in this closely-watched election.
The latest polls are still pointing to a hung parliament. The BBC's May 5 "Poll of Polls" puts the Conservatives ahead at 37%, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats both scoring 28% of the vote. So it looks like it might all depend on how the election plays out in the marginals...
06:50: Election Day has arrived. In a few minutes from now, at 07:00 UK time, polling stations will be opening around the country in what is set to be the closest election since the 1970s.
Economic troubles await whoever becomes the country's next prime minister, tasked with nurturing a fragile economic recovery and bringing down the national debt.
The three main contenders for Downing Street -- Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg -- will all be voting shortly. After a four-week campaign that, for the first time, featured live television debates between the main party leaders and raised the prospect of a hung parliament, all are calling for a high turnout.
Source: AFP European Edition
