MILLIONS OF voters across the UK were today going to the polls to decide the most tightly contested General Election for more than 30 years.

In Shropshire, a high turnout was being predicted with polling stations being kept busy from the moment they opened at 7am.

Turnout was also set to be swelled by a large number of postal votes which returning officers reported had already been received across the county.

More than 44 million people are registered to vote.

Polling stations will close at 10pm and the first declarations are due at 11pm.

• Shropshirestar.com will be bringing you full coverage throughout the night, with pictures, video and reports from the counts in Telford, The Wrekin, Shrewsbury & Atcham, North Shropshire, Ludlow and Montgomeryshire.
• We’re also on Twitter, and we’d like your tweets as the result unfolds.

Shortly after voting began this morning, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage was injured when an election stunt in a light aircraft went crashing to the ground.

Investigators look at wreckage of the light aircraft that crashed at Hinton-in-the-Hedges airfield, near Brackley, injuring Ukip candidate Nigel Farage and the plane's pilot.

Meanwhile, a string of 11th hour opinion polls gave the Conservatives a clear lead over Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The spectre of the first hung Parliament since 1974 loomed, however, as the figures suggested David Cameron would not get enough support to claim an overall majority in the House of Commons.

The last 48 hours has seen party leaders criss-cross the country in a whirlwind of rallies and constituency visits.

In the Shrewsbury and Atcham constituency, deputy returning officer Richard Thomas said: “Indications are that the turnout will be high based on the percentage of postal votes returned.”

Between 32,000 and 33,000 postal votes have been received from across the area, with about 13,000 from Shrewsbury.

Martin Bradshaw, from Wenlock Road, who cast his vote this morning at St Giles Memorial Hall, said: “It’s been one of the most interesting elections I’ve seen.

“There’s been better media coverage, the new debate process and more balance in this election than in any other I can remember.”

Rita Medlicott, from Springfields, said: “I think the debates with the three leaders were a good idea.”

Margaret Quigley, presiding officer at St Giles, said the bad weather had not kept people away.

She said: “It’s been a very good, steady stream of people since we opened this morning.

“The weather doesn’t seem to be putting people off.”

Voters in the Telford constituency were taking a step back in time today by casting their ballots in a tollhouse at the world’s first cast-iron bridge.

Electoral officials said it was the first time votes had been cast in the Iron Bridge Tollhouse, at the southern end of the historic bridge.

David Cameron cast his vote today in the General Election which he hopes will see him move into 10 Downing Street.

Accompanied by his pregnant wife Samantha, the Tory leader was the first of the three main party leaders to vote. He smiled at reporters and photographers but made no comment as he went into the polling station at Spelsbury Memorial Hall in Witney, Oxfordshire.

A smiling Gordon Brown cast his ballot in rainy Fife this morning.

Windy

The Prime Minister voted at North Queensferry Community Centre, overlooking the Firth of Forth, where the weather was cold, wet and windy. The polling station is a few minutes’ drive from his North Queensferry home.

He was casting his ballot in the Dunfermline and West Fife constituency, down the road from his own seat of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

Mr Brown and his wife, Sarah, were taken to the community centre in his chauffeur-driven Jaguar at 11.10am, where they were clapped in by a handful of local Labour activists.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg cast his vote in a General Election which he has described as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for change.

He said he had had a “very nice morning” as he left the polling station at Bents Green Methodist Church in Sheffield.

Mr Clegg, who has seen his profile soar following the televised leaders’ debates, was met by a crowd of journalists as he arrived to cast his vote. He joked: “I don’t think my vote is a secret.”

Unlike other political leaders, Mr Clegg cannot count on the support of his wife at the ballot box. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez is a Spanish citizen and therefore unable to vote in the election.

The final newspaper polls of the campaign all put Conservatives in the lead with support ranging between 35-37 per cent. The other two parties were vying for second place, with Labour apparently edging slightly ahead on 28-29 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 26-28 per cent.

By Emma Kasprzak