THURSDAY MAY 6TH TODAY IS ELECTION DAY

Despite the drizzle (not to mention the volcanic ash) that covers Britain today the General Election 2010 is off -probably the most important one for a Generation. in Bridgwater & West Somerset KATHY PEARCE was up at the crack of dawn to cast her vote at Westfield church in Bridgwaters West Street before heading off to the Minehead end of the vast constituency and back again throughout the day.

"Tory and LibDem rosettes seem to be noticeable by their absence at the moment - which to me shows the Tories are less than convinced by their absentee candidate and the Lib Dems are relying on their x-factor style TV hype as they have absolutely no Party members active on the ground here! "

AFTERNOON UPDATE

Turnout in Bridgwater, like elsewhere in the country, is high. Very little sign of the opposition. Polling stations around the country opened at 7am and will close at 10pm - with the first results expected before midnight.

Bridgwater is expected to be declared at about 3am.

Final Opinion Polls showed Tories in the lead with 36% and Labour second on 29% and Lib Dems trailing on 27%. This would translate into a Tory minority Government and of course the Lib Dems failing to gain much more than 10 extra seats showing that in a First Past the Post election a Lib Dem vote is a wasted vote.

BNP candidate Donna Treanor hasn't been spotted at all-probably because shes standing as a council candidate where she lives in Croydon today as well! Which of course doesn't mean her candidature here hasn't unearthed a dodgy underbelly of racist supporters who have taken to the local blogosphere.

UKIP candidate was pictured voting early on but their campaign today has been dominated by ex leader Farages plane crash which occured this morning when he tried to take off with a 'vote Ukip' banner that got entangled in the planes tail and brought it down. His agent said he was 'drifting in and out of conscious, but still talking' (no surprise there). His injuries were declared as 'not life threatening'. Belgium has declared a day of mourning.

Every last available Lib Dem appears to have left the Bridgwater constituency (in a Mini Metro) to help in other areas where they have a chance of winning leaving Butt-Phillips wishing he'd been selected in the winnable consituency of Wells (where he lives)

Tory candidate Ian Liddel-Grainger appears to be trying to combat his non-visibility during the election campaign by driving at top speed around the constituency -but failing to stop for fear he falls victim to a similar stunt that held up his leaders photo op this morning when he went to vote. ( Two men, one dressed in a blazer and boater, unfurled a large banner at Spelsbury Memorial Hall in Witney, Oxfordshire. It featured a picture of the Conservative party leader with the slogan. "Britons know your place. Vote Eton - vote Tory." )

EVENING UPDATE

Polling stations are open until 10pm. Turnout is high.

Labour supporters have been greeting voters at almost all polling stations with seevral Tory, a couple of UKIP and only 1 LibDem presence . Response from the public has been positive.

The BNP have not put in a presence.

Kathy is having her tea break and is then touring the polling stations again.

The office at Unity House is staffed until 9pm.

The bar will be open late.

IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE SO THUS FAR PLEASE GET OUT THERE AND VOTE FOR KATHY PEARCE



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