LONDON (AP) Britons who have endured three years of wrangling over their countrys messy divorce from the European Union cast ballots today in an election billed as a way out of the Brexit stalemate and one of the deeply divided countrys most important votes since World War II.
The contest pits Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who says he will take Britain out of the EU by Jan. 31, against opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who promises another referendum on Brexit.
All 650 seats in the House of Commons are up for grabs in the election, which is being held more than two years ahead of schedule.
At a fish market in the eastern port of Grimsby, seafood company owner Nathan Godley summed up the hopes of many people that one way or another the election would provide a pathway to a resolution of Brexit.
I think we all got a bit weary of the politicians over the last few years really and I think having a government with a majority to give them the clout to actually do what they want is a good thing, he said.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg urged the country to look beyond Brexit.
Every election is a climate election. Vote for your children. Vote for the planet. Vote for future generations. Vote for humanity, Thunberg tweeted the day after Time magazine selected her as its youngest ever Person of the Year.
With so much at stake, political parties have pushed the boundaries of truth, transparency and reality during five weeks of campaigning.
Johnsons Conservative Party was criticized for using misleading tactics on social media, while Corbyns Labour Party promised to tax the rich, boost government spending and nationalize industries such as railroads and water companies. One of the focal points of the ugly campaign was the National Health Service, a deeply respected institution that has struggled to meet rising demand after nine years of austerity under Conservative-led governments.
Jill Rutter, a senior research fellow at UK in a Changing Europe, said one of the things that stood out during the campaign was the shamelessness of the politicians. She cited Johnsons claim that the Conservatives would build 40 hospitals, when that number really includes many existing facilities to be renovated.
Normally, if you point out to people that something doesnt stand up, its actually sort of fiction, you slightly expect them to start … replacing that with a different new fact, Rutter said. But here, actually, youve seen this from No. 10 under Johnson that theyre prepared to run a deeply manipulative operation.
The prime minister called early elections in hopes of breaking a logjam in Parliament that stalled approval of his Brexit agreement in October. Johnson didnt have a majority in the last Parliament and was stymied once he lost the support of the Democratic Unionist Party because of concerns about how Northern Ireland would be treated under his deal with the EU.
Opinion polls have consistently showed the Conservative Party in the lead, but recent surveys suggest the margin may have narrowed in the final days of campaigning. While Labour is unlikely to win an outright majority, smaller opposition parties hope to win enough seats so they can team up to block Johnsons Brexit plans.
All of the parties are nervous about the verdict of voters who are more willing to abandon long-held party loyalties after three years of wrangling over Brexit. Photos of lines at polling stations suggested a brisk early turnout.
Chris Schofield said more than 70 voters were waiting in the Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency in London.
Its about 20 times busier than it was in 2017, and for the locals and Euro elections, the 27-year-old consultant told the Press Association news agency. Atmosphere is very London: orderly queueing and no-one is talking to each other!
