Long queues, late polls for EU vote

Voters are eager to have their say on Britain's continued EU membership, with long queues reported outside polling stations across the country throughout the day.
Despite bad weather in parts of the UK, turnout is expected to be high as a record number of people - nearly 46.5million - are registered to vote in the referendum, suggesting that the number of voters exercising their rights could even beat the 65% turnout of the 1975 referendum on EU membership.

Scotland’s chief returning officer, Mary Pitcaithly, has already predicted overall turnout in Scotland will reach around 70-80%, the Guardian reports.

In London and the southeast, the public have braved torrential rain and flash floods to vote, even though a few polling stations in London were forced to close after a month's rain fell in a single night.

Problems on the rail network caused by the floods could affect commuters' ability to vote, however, as they struggle to return home. Waterloo in London is said to be particularly badly affected.

Pundits have said that the result of the all-important vote is too close to call - but one online survey, carried out before polling stations opened at 8am UK time on Thursday, gave the remain campaign a 10-point lead over leave.

The Populus poll, shows remain on 55% and leave on 45%, the Independent reported.

Meanwhile, the Guardian published the results of an Ipsos Mori phone poll, completed in the days before the referendum, that gave remain a four-point lead over leave - 52% to 48%, in line with a number of other late polls that give remain the edge and suggest that a remain vote is increasingly likely. All final phone polls showed remain in the lead, whereas the last four online polls were split between the two camps.

A 'poll of polls' carried out by Britain Elects puts the remain camp with 51% of the vote, compared to leave's 49%.

No broadcaster has commissioned an exit poll because the margin for error is too great to predict the outcome with any confidence, which means late polls, such as Populus and Ipsos Mori are the final indicators of which way the UK is leaning.

But investors seem confident of an 'in' result, with both the FTSE 100 closing up on the day and the pound also performing strongly. Bookmakers, too, are taking big bets on the outcome, with the referendum already crowned the biggest political betting event in history. Betfair said it took £5m on the result this morning.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has said that votes cast in pencil or pen are equally valid, after a social media outcry over the pencils offered to voters at polling stations.

Some voters suggested that votes cast in pencil could be altered - but the Commission said that any alterations to a ballot paper would be spotted during the count.

Elsewhere, the front page of Germany's Bild newspaper promised that, if Britain votes to remain, Germans would - finally - recognise Geoff Hurst's controversial goal in the 1966 World Cup final, stop mocking Prince Charles's ears, and German holidaymakers would save sun loungers for their British counterparts.