Remain campaigners in Islington, a Labour stronghold that includes the constituencies of Jeremy Corbyn and Emily Thornberry, seem confident that rain and occasional thunder and lightning haven’t damaged their chances of success.
The Guardian’s David Pegg, who is anchored in deepest Islington, reports:
Despite comments from Nigel Farage earlier in the day anticipating that the bad weather could favour the leave campaign by putting off “soft remainers”, local activists canvassing outside schools and stations in an effort to reach parents and commuters said they felt positive.
“Turnout appears to have been fairly high. An awful lot of people are saying ‘I’ve already voted’,” said Freddie Wilkinson, leafleting outside Highbury and Islington station.
“There are quite a few people trickling in,” said Jo Wood, one of a group of Labour party members out campaigning. “People are voting.”
Results for the area are expected to be declared after 1.30am, making it one of the earlier counts for London.
That #usepens hashtag continues to trend on Twitter, with some gentle (and not so gentle) mockery of the urgings from some (mainly pro-Brexit) quarters for voters to bring their own pens to ensure their papers are not altered in favour of a remain vote.
Just voted. I took needle and black thread. I sewed in the cross on my ballot paper. My vote is secure! #usepens
They believe the turnout in central Cardiff is very big – and think this is good news for Remain - but worry that it may be a different story in the valleys and out in the countryside. They just spoke to someone who was still undecided. “I’ll give it some thought,” she said. She’d better hurry up.
Welsh Labour grandees are still working hard in the valleys, one of their traditional strongholds.
So, are the polls going to get it right this time? The Guardian’s Tom Clark has been looking at how the EU referendum is the pollsters’ big chance to regain some credibility.
Here’s a snatch
The big flaw unveiled in the thorough post-election inquiry for the industry, by Prof Patrick Sturgis, has not been satisfactorily addressed.
The root problem, he found, was not last-minute jitters in the ballot box or inadequate turnout filters, but rather a brute failure by the pollsters to interview the right people.
A couple of door-to-door surveys run by academics and published long after the event did get election 2015 right. The big difference was that these surveys picked out voters’ names at random, and then kept hammering on their doors until they answered.
The other polls, whether online or phone, give up on the hard-to-reach, move on to other phone numbers and email addresses, and thus fail to achieve a genuine mix. In 2015 it transpired that Tories, for whatever reason, were that bit harder to rouse, creating the big polling miss.
For those having trouble getting home because of the weather, I’m afraid it’s too late to apply for an emergency proxy – the deadline was 5pm today.
It seems unlikely that transport problems would be accepted as a valid reason anyway, as people stranded overseas today because of the strike by French air traffic controllers were told they were not entitled to appoint an emergency proxy.
The guidance on such proxies for the EU referendum says they apply when someone has a medical emergency or “your occupation, service or employment means that you cannot go to the polling station in person, and you only became aware of that fact after the proxy vote deadline (15 June)”.
When my colleague Mark Tran asked the Electoral Commission about the possibility of people stranded at train stations getting emergency proxies, they referred him to this tweet by the commission.
In London/SE and want to vote in the #EURef? Make sure you plan now to get back to your local polling station by 10pm!
— Electoral Commission (@ElectoralCommUK) June 23, 2016
It’s Ben Quinn here picking up the baton now from Haroon. Red Bulls at the ready?
In posher districts at one polling station, the Guardian was told that, including postal votes, “1,000 of the 1,400” had been cast – but this was “not as high” as other nearby counts.
Bristol, considered a pro-remain stronghold, is one of the last big counts to declare with a result due at 6am.
If the national result is very close – as some predict – then Britain could be waiting to see what happens in the city to find out whether the country remains or leave the EU.
West Yorkshire police have confirmed that they were called to a stabbing near a polling station in Huddersfield at 5.15pm, but said the incident had nothing to do with today’s referendum.
The polling station on Waverley Road was closed for half an hour to “contain the scene”, but has now reopened.
Local reports have named the victim as 18-year-old Luke Joseph and say he was stabbed by a gang of five other teenagers. Police believe he was attacked in the nearby Greenhead Park and then walked to the polling station, where he collapsed.
The victim’s injuries have been described as serious but not fatal.
The problems at London transport hubs could potentially affect the ability of thousands of people to vote.
Waterloo, where there appears to be no service at all, serves 90 million passengers a year, which is about 250,000 a day on average (although the average obviously includes weekends and holidays).
Cannon Street, Charing Cross, London Bridge, Victoria, and probably other stations have also been affected. They are all major commuter stations with many people likely to have left for work this morning before polls opened.
The Rail Delivery Group says among the train operators affected are Abellio Greater Anglia, Gatwick Express, Southern, South West Trains and Thameslink.
Among those stranded is the broadcaster and journalist Sian Williams:
Scotland’s chief returning officer, Mary Pitcaithly, has predicted overall turnout in Scotland will reach about 70-80% after a day of “steady” voting at polling stations.
Pitcaithly told BBC Radio Scotland she did not expect turnout to reach the 85% seen in the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014, which she oversaw, but agreed it would still be high.
Only 56% of Scotland’s 4 million-strong electorate turned out for May’s Holyrood elections, but 71% did so in last year’s UK general election.
The chief executive for Falkirk council, she is due to announce Scotland’s regional result after collating the count data from 32 local councils at around breakfast time.
Members of the public at Pollokshields primary school polling station in Glasgow, Scotland. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
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