Voters Go To The Polls In EU Referendum

Two polling stations are closed due to flooding as voters have their say on membership of the 28-nation bloc.

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   Gallery: Politicians Cast Their Votes

   Polls have opened across the UK in the European Union referendum. A record 46.5 million people are eligible to vote. Prime Minister David Cameron became one of the first campaign leaders to arrive to cast his vote, alongside his wife Samantha, in Westminster
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    Gallery: Politicians Cast Their Votes

    Polls have opened across the UK in the European Union referendum. A record 46.5 million people are eligible to vote. Prime Minister David Cameron became one of the first campaign leaders to arrive to cast his vote, alongside his wife Samantha, in Westminster

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Voters have been casting their ballots to decide whether Britain should remain in or leave the European Union despite floods and lengthy queues.

Kingston Council was forced to close two polling stations due to flooding, with voters instructed to cast their ballots at alternative locations.

One polling station in Dover experienced a power outage due to the storms and is still running on a generator.

Others opened late because of problems with staffing due to the bad weather.

Merton Council in southwest London tweeted a video of a waterlogged walkway outside the Sacred Heart School polling station in New Malden, advising voters to "wear your wellies".

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   Gallery: Rufferendum: Dogs At Polls
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    Gallery: Rufferendum: Dogs At Polls

Queues have also formed outside some polling stations, with voters waiting patiently in line despite the wet weather.

Mauro Murgia, who lives opposite a polling station in West Hampstead, said: "I took a picture of the queue at around 8.30am and it was the longest queue to a polling station I have ever seen.

"I was surprised because for the London mayoral election there was hardly anyone, I was in and out in three seconds."

Olly Wainwright wrote on Twitter: "Longest queues I've seen at the Hackney polling station already."

Polling stations will close across the UK at 10pm, an hour after those in Gibraltar.

On the ballot paper, voters are being asked: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"

They will then choose whether they want to "Remain a member of the European Union" or "Leave the European Union" by placing a cross in the appropriate box.

Party leaders and senior figures from both Remain and Leave camps cast their ballots throughout the morning.

A record number of voters - some 46.5 million - are eligible to take part in the referendum, according to figures from the Electoral Commission.

Counting will begin as soon as polls close.

The country has been divided into 382 voting areas, each of which will declare its own result.

This is made of 380 local authorities across England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland counts as one area, as does Gibraltar.

The overall result for the whole of the UK will be announced in Manchester, likely on Friday morning, but only when all 382 areas have declared.

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