Divisive Brexit campaign ends as UK voters go to the polls

Tens of millions of people across the UK will vote today in a referendum which could take the country out of the EU after more than four decades.

Polls opened at 7.30am and will close at 10.30pm

Two polls last night put Remain ahead, ComRes by eight points and YouGov by two, but two others earlier in the day gave Leave a slight lead.

The ComRes poll for ITV and the Daily Mail put Remain at 48 per cent and Leave at 42 per cent, while YouGov for the Times, which includes Northern Ireland, put Remain at 51 per cent with Leave at 49 per cent. Both showed a swing away from Brexit.

Leaders of the rival campaigns criss-crossed the country yesterday, making last-minute appeals for support, as international leaders and financial institutions prepared to respond to a vote to leave the EU.

Prime minister David Cameron joined representatives from other parties in Birmingham to drive home his message that a vote for Brexit was a risk Britain could not afford to take.

"We are all saying the same thing – we are stronger, we are better off, we are safer in a reformed European Union, " he said.

With the final result expected early tomorrow morning, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council president Donald Tusk, European Parliament president Martin Schulz and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, holder of the EU presidency, have scheduled a meeting for 10.30am tomorrow at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.

Foreign ministers from the EU's six founding members – France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands – are due to meet in Berlin on Saturday.

If Britain votes to leave, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt is expected to issue a statement early tomorrow morning in an effort to calm markets, amid concerns about a contagion effect on euro zone countries, particularly Ireland.

‘Out is out’

Mr Juncker warned that, if Britain votes to leave, “out is out” with no question of reversing the decision after negotiating a better deal.

“British voters have to know there will be no kind of any negotiation. We have concluded a deal with the prime minister. He got the maximum he could receive, and we gave the maximum we could give, so there will be no kind of renegotiation,” he said.

Former London mayor Boris Johnson, who is campaigning for Brexit, said Mr Juncker, whom he described as "an unelected tinpot figure", had confirmed that there was no prospect of further change if Britain remained in the EU.

“We have been told from the horse’s mouth that any hope of further change is absolute illusion,” he said.

“It is time for us to show our courage and our commitment to democracy by standing up to these unelected tinpot figures.”

Some 46.5 million people are eligible to vote, the largest electorate in British history, which includes 20,000 voters in Gibraltar as well as those in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Polls close at 10pm and the first results from almost 400 count centres are expected shortly after midnight, with the last counts reporting after 6am.

Clear picture

None of the television networks have commissioned an exit poll and unless one side is leading by a wide margin, it is likely to be after 3am before a clear picture starts to emerge.

After many weeks during which Remain had a clear lead, polls showed a surge in support for Leave earlier this month.

Polls conducted since last week's murder of Labour MP Jo Cox have shown the contest tightening.

A low turnout is likely to favour the Leave campaign, whose supporters have indicated they are more certain to vote.

The Remain campaign is hoping that younger voters, most of whom want to remain in the EU, will vote in greater numbers than usual and that wavering voters will decide to back the status quo.

Ms Cox, who would have been 42 yesterday, was remembered at events around the world, including a rally in London’s Trafalgar Square.

“What a beautiful irony it is that an act designed to advance hatred has in fact instead generated such an outpouring of love,” her husband Brendan Cox told the crowd.