Super Thursday as it happened: London, Scotland and England among polls to open in UK-wide elections

Voting closes across the UK

Polls have closed and now it's just the small matter of counting votes to determine the outcomes from several elections. We're wrapping up this blog but you can stay up to date with the latest by clicking this link to follow the election results as they come in live.

Homeland star takes a swipe at Boris Johnson

Actor and Londoner Damian Lewis has taken a swing at London Mayor Boris Johnson's housing legacy. Lewis criticised the way in which the "ultra-rich" have "taken up residency in London, the way that's been facilitated by our leaders and our politicians".

Speaking at the UK showing of Our Kind Of Traitor, Lewis said: "I think London has changed and the heart of London is now inhabited by people with second, third, fourth homes, these super-rich, that class of people most of us don't know or come across."

He added: "I'm a proud Londoner and it would be a shame if the centre of London became given over entirely to people's third homes, so hopefully it won't."

Polls close soon but you can still vote

Polls close at 10pm BST but you can still have your say if you are in the queue then.

Polls shut in less than an hour

With less than one hour to go before voting closes, time is fast running out and political leaders are wasting no time in urging people to go out and have their say. As part of his final push, Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn even reminded voters that there's no need for a polling card "or anything else."

No extension for Barnet voters

Despite voters being turned away without having their say earlier in the day in Barnet, no extension has been granted for polling stations to stay open beyond 10pm. But if voters are in line at 10pm, they can still vote, according to Barnet Council. Residents are being advised to bring their polling cards.

#VoteConservative is trending. That can only be a good thing, right?

With more than 46,000 tweets sent out with the aforementioned hashtag, Tory attempts to garner support appears to have backfired. Most of the tweets sent out unashamedly bash the Conservatives, capturing the political mood among some voters.

Khan and Goldsmith drum up support

With less than three hours to go before polls close, London mayoral hopefuls Sadiq Khan and Zac Goldsmith are out canvassing for support. Voters do not need their polling cards to have their say, they just need to give their name and address at the polling station.

The brawl for City Hall is under way

With the race for City Hall well and truly under way, how do Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan compare? Watch the video below for a reminder on how the two political heavyweights shape up in the brawl for City Hall.

Andrew Travers, Barnet and Camden constituency returning officer, has issued a statement on the voting fiasco:

"We experienced problems with our electoral registration lists earlier today, which meant that a number of people were unable to vote at polling stations in Barnet first thing this morning.

"We did everything we could to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and updated lists were sent to every polling station by 10.30am, at which point all residents were able to vote as normal.

"Information about how people could apply for an emergency proxy vote before the 5pm deadline was made available for those unable to return to polling stations to vote in person.

"Taking part in the democratic process is a fundamental right for our residents and the main focus this morning was to resolve the situation as soon as possible. We will fully investigate the cause of the problems that have arisen. I would like to apologise to everyone who experienced problems with voting in Barnet today."

A grim outlook for Labour if private polling is anything to go by

There are ominous signs for Labour despite Jeremy Corbyn's predictions the party would not lose seats in the local elections. If the tweet from the New Statesman's political editor George Eaton translates into reality, it would represent a significant blow to the party.

Labour MP Liz Kendall previously said that the party must gain 400 seats if it is to defeat the Conservatives at the next general election in 2020.

Weather a factor on polling day?

Good weather was expected to have a positive effect on voter turnout, but the opposite could be true. It's worth bearing in mind that the above figure does not take those voting after work into account and over four hours remain before voting closes.

Since we're talking about whether there will be an uptick in voter turnout, here's a few snaps of the weather.

Barnet blunder simply a mistake?

The voting troubles in Barnet caused much anger among voters fed up at the borough's history of disasters on polling days. Speaking to The Telegraph, Labour London Assembly candidate, Andrew Dismore said: "The privatisation and cuts have made bureaucracy a fisasco at Barnet, every election the council cocks up.

He continued: "I lost the election last year because of Barnet council, there were hundreds of Labour voters who weren't allowed to vote, theres nothing new about this."

Not wishing to mince his words, Dismore added: "I'm fed up of this, every election Barnet screws it up, a council like Camden should come in and run their elections for them if they can't do it themselves."

Drudge Report is coming under heavy criticism from Twitter users after publishing a racially charged image of mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan. The headline reads: "First Muslim Mayor of Londonistan" – a reference to false claims that the capital city is a majority Muslim city.

Back to where it all began. London mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan takes a trip down memory lane – Labour colleague Tom Watson took no time engaging in a bit of gentle ribbing.

It's an historic day for Scotland after 16 and 17-year-olds were granted the right to vote in all Scottish parliamentary and council elections. They are exercising their right to do so for the first time today.

What impact could the Barnet voting blunder have?

Voting in the London borough of Barnet got off to a shaky start as people's names were missing from polling lists. The council confirmed that the situation has since been rectified, but it is unclear how many people were denied a chance to vote after 155 polling stations were issued with partial electoral registers.

The voting failure could represent a significant blow for the Tories and mayoral hopeful Zac Goldsmith, given that the party has previously enjoyed strong support among Barnet's 236,000 registered voters. In 2012, London Mayor Boris Johnson won about 82,000 votes in contrast to Ken Livingstone's 58,000.

A Barnet Council spokesperson said: "Anyone who attended a polling station in Barnet this morning, and was turned away and therefore could not vote, and was unable to return due to work reasons, may be able to use an emergency proxy vote.

"They will need to complete an application form on our website (www.barnet.gov.uk) and return it by 5pm today. People can find out more about how to vote by emergency proxy by clicking here.

Remember him?

In north London, Boris Johnson and wife Marina has cast his vote in the elections. The outgoing Mayor of London has been campaigning for Zac Goldsmith this week as the Conservative candidate looks to gain ground on frontrunner Sadiq Khan.

As Johnson leaves City Hall, IBTimes UK looks back at his eight-year reign:

Forget Barnet, the real scandal today happened in Stalybridge, where Labour councillor Jan Jackson might have lost a couple of votes after blocking cars in at a polling station there. Jackson, who was accompanied by a woman with crutches, parked her red Seat in front of other cars at Bright Futures nursery to cries of "We've got to go to work, we dropped our children off," from one woman.

Re-live the moment key political figures cast their votes at today's elections.

In news totally unrelated to the elections, George Osborne has tweeted that he will appear on Robert Peston's new show, Peston on Sunday, this week. The chancellor also revealed the shocking news the ITV broadcaster may have had a haircut...

On a lighter note, #DogsAtPollingStations is trending on Twitter. Here's one of our favourites.

The media has been sent another update from Barnet Council on voting issues this morning.

A spokesperson for the local authority said: "Anyone who attended a polling station in Barnet this morning, and was turned away and therefore could not vote, and was unable to return due to work reasons, may be able to use an emergency proxy vote.

"They will need to complete an application form on our website (www.barnet.gov.uk) and return it by 5pm today. People can find out more about how to vote by emergency proxy athttps://www.barnet.gov.uk/citizen-home/council-and-democracy/democracy-and-elections/elections-in-barnet.html."

Here's a bit more information on that final YouGov/Evening Standard poll for the Mayor of London election.

Anthony Wells, director of political and social research for YouGov, told IBTimes UK that he did not expect voter turnout to make a dramatic difference to the result.

"Turnout might make a difference at the margins, it might change by two or three points, but it's not going to change by 14 points."

Wells also revealed that his research suggested Londoners were sticking with party allegiances at the ballot box. He added: "It's not really an issues election. If you look at the previous two mayoral elections, people have voted outside of their normal party alignments. The reason why Boris won is because he appealed to lots of Labour and Liberal Democrat voters.

"If you look at the figures here, people who normally vote Labour are voting for Sadiq, and people who normally vote Conservative are voting for Zac. This election is just people voting with their normal party allegiances. It's a Labour city that is voting for a Labour mayor."

Popstar and activist Charlotte Church has caused a stir by apparently switching allegiances from Labour to Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru. The singer voted for the party - led by - even though she sang at a "JC4PM" concert in Edinburgh in March. However, Church tackled the criticism on Twitter: