Future overshadows UK vote

Doubt over Theresa May’s future overshadows UK vote

The polls suggest both main parties will do poorly in the election with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party taking top spot.

By CHARLIE COOPER

The U.K. began voting in the European Parliament election Thursday, with polling day overshadowed by speculation that a disastrous result for the ruling Conservatives could trigger Theresa May’s imminent resignation.

Voting is taking place in nine regions in England, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to elect 73 MEPs, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. U.K. time.

However, there have been early indications that some EU27 citizens living in the U.K. have been turned away despite making efforts to register to vote in the country ahead of the May 7 deadline.

The election is expected to deliver a resounding victory for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which advocates a renegotiation of May’s Brexit deal and leaving without a deal if the U.K. cannot get its way.

May’s Conservatives are bracing for a disastrous result, with POLITICO’s latest projection (which is based on an amalgamation of recent national polls) giving the party just 11 percent of the vote, behind the pro-Remain Liberal Democrats with 16 percent, Labour with 19 percent and the Brexit Party with 33 percent.

May is expected to vote close to her home in Sonning, Berkshire, later today.

Farage voted near Downe in Kent. “If you believe the opinion polls the establishment could be in for one of the biggest shocks in British political history,” he said in a video clip posted to the party’s Twitter feed.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn cast his vote in London, saying ahead of polls opening that a vote for his party was one to “bring our divided country together, whether you supported Remain or Leave.”

Lib Dem leader Vince Cable cast his vote in Twickenham, south-west London this morning calling his party “the strongest Remain voice.” Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley voted with his daughter. “She was too young to vote in the referendum. Now she’s 20 and has a voice to say yes to Europe and no to climate breakdown,” he said on Twitter.

However, uncertainty around the U.K.’s Brexit timetable and the government’s failure to officially confirm the election would take place until two weeks before polling day led to widespread concerns that EU citizens would not have time to submit paperwork — known as UC1 forms — allowing them to vote in the U.K. rather than in their country of origin.

Axel Antoni, spokesperson for the3million campaign group which represents EU citizens living in the U.K., said they had received dozens of reports from people who said they had been turned away despite making efforts to register on time.

“They have turned up at the polling stations being told they could not vote, they should have voted in their home countries, which is a bit offensive in a way, seeing as most EU citizens [here] consider the U.K. to be their home,” Antoni said.

The group has also received reports from EU27 citizens who had not been sent polling cards, or been told by their local council that their UC1 forms had not been received, had been lost, or arrived after the deadline.

An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: “We understand the frustration of some citizens of other EU member states, resident in the UK, who have been finding they are unable to vote today when they wish to do so ... The very short notice from the government of the UK’s participation in these elections impacted on the time available for awareness of this process amongst citizens, and for citizens to complete the process."