ELECTIONS LIVE: The polls are closed!

REUTERS/Toby Melville

Good evening! Britain has spent the day going to the polls after weeks of bitter campaigning, voting on everything from city mayors to regional assemblies, local councils to police and crime commissioners. Polls close at 10 p.m BST, with exit polls expected immediately after.

Here are the top stories: 

• There are reports circulating that Labour will face heavy losses in council elections.
• One of the key races to watch is London mayor, which is considered a two-horse race between the Conservative Zac Goldsmith and Labour's Sadiq Khan, who is odds-on favourite to win and would be the city's first Muslim mayor.
• Today's elections are a test of leadership - both for Tory David Cameron, a year into his majority Conservative government, and Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, who has strong activist support but faces opposition from the parliamentary party.
• The Conservatives are battling to get into overtake Labour in Scotland and became the main party of opposition to the dominant SNP.
• There are calls for a public inquiry after a screw-up in Barnet, North London saw many voters left unable to vote this morning.

This is a liveblog of the day's events and will be updated frequently. Refresh the page for the latest news, or click here.

Latest:

2200 - POLLS ARE CLOSED!

We'll post early polls as soon as we have them.

2156 - CATCH UP ON THE DAY'S EVENTS

There's still a few minutes until the polls close, so amuse yourselves by reading our earlier coverage of the day's events, from leader votes to screw-ups in Barnet, North London.

2150 - BRACE YOURSELVES

Welcome to part two of our live coverage of the Britain's elections. Polls close in 10 minutes, at 10 p.m. BST, with the first exit polls expected immediately afterwards. We'll bring you them as soon as we have them, as well as the actual results as they come in throughout the night and into tomorrow. 

The BBC's Daily Politics has put together a good guide to when (it predicts) results will start coming in. The short version is that we should get some council results tonight, as well as all the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament results, with more coming tomorrow.

The London mayor is expected to be announced officially tomorrow evening - though with all of these, the exit polls should give us some indication of which way it's likely to go almost immediately.

Tonight will be a crucial test of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

Corbyn was elected leader off the back of a huge wave of activist support, but he faces opposition from within the parliamentary party. Britain's opposition has also been gripped by an ugly row over alleged anti-Semitism from some party members in its ranks over the last week. 

There are rumours circulating that Labour could face heavy losses in Council elections.

The results will also serve as a barometer of public support for Prime Minister David Cameron, who has led a majority Conservative government for the last year but faced upsets including a crisis in the British steel industry and huge junior doctor's strikes.

One of the key races to watch is London mayor, which is considered a two-horse race between the Conservative Zac Goldsmith and Labour's Sadiq Khan, who is odds-on favourite to win and would be the city's first Muslim mayor.

You can catch up on our previous coverage of today's events here.  

This is a liveblog of the day's events and will be updated frequently. Refresh the page for the latest news, or click here.