UK Election 2017: Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn vote as polling gets under way across UK + PHOTOS

British Prime Minister Theresa May, representing the Conservatives, cast her ballot early Thursday morning in her constituency of Maidenhead, as police patrol polling stations to keep stations safe.

Her closest rival, the Labour candidate, Jeremy Corbyn, also arrived early in his constituency of Islington to cast his vote.

Millions of voters are heading to the ballot box across the country in another historic general election, with polls open from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm.

Some voters reported queues of people ready to vote in what has been termed “Brexit election,” as Theresa May issued an eve-of-poll rallying call last night to “reignite the British spirit.”

Opinion polls continue to suggest a Conservative Party –  Tory lead but early predictions of a landslide win have diminished after a series of policy blunders including the so-called dementia tax.

The campaign was also disrupted by the two devastating terror attacks on London and Manchester, which put national security at the centre of the battle for votes.

Polling stations opened at 0600 GMT (2 a.m. ET) amid tight security nationwide after two Islamist attacks killed 30 people in Manchester and London in less than two weeks, thrusting the issue of how to counter militant violence to the top of the agenda in the closing stages of the campaign, Reuters said.

A flurry of opinion polls on Wednesday gave May’s Conservatives a lead ranging between one and 12 percentage points over the main opposition Labour Party, suggesting she would increase her majority – but not win the landslide foreseen when she called the election seven weeks ago.

Headline rates for sterling, hit two-week highs in morning trade in London after the latest polls.

But market bets on how volatile the pound will be over the next 24 hours surged to their highest in a year as some surveys showed the election had become too close to call.

A final opinion poll by Ipsos/MORI for the Evening Standard is expected to be published shortly before 1100 GMT.

Voting ends at 2100 GMT and an exit poll will be issued then. The first handful of seat results are expected to be announced by 2300 GMT, with the vast majority of the 650 constituencies due to announce results between 0200 GMT and 0500 GMT on Friday morning.

A smiling May did not speak to media as she and her husband Philip voted in the village of Sonning on the River Thames in her Maidenhead constituency.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn grinned broadly and gave the thumbs-up to reporters and party workers as he voted in Islington, north London.

“I’m very proud of our campaign,” he said.

Both main parties were on the defensive after Saturday’s van and knife attack in the heart of London. May faced questions over cuts in the number of police officers during her six years as interior minister and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn drew criticism for, among other things, voting against some counter-terrorism legislation.

Police investigating the London attacks said they had arrested three more suspects late on Wednesday. Two of the men, aged 27 and 29, were held on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism while the third was detained over suspected drugs offences.

In the final hours of campaigning, both leaders returned to their core campaign messages.

“If we get Brexit right, we can build a Britain that is more prosperous and more secure, a Britain in which prosperity and opportunity is shared by all,” May said in a last appeal to voters to trust her to “knuckle down and get the job done”.

After becoming prime minister without an election in the turmoil that followed last year’s EU referendum, May wants a personal mandate and a parliamentary majority bigger than the one she inherited from predecessor David Cameron.

Basing her campaign on the slogan of “strong and stable leadership”, she has said she alone could face the 27 other EU leaders and clinch a deal that would give Britain control over immigration policy while ensuring favorable trading terms.

She has portrayed Corbyn as the weak and hapless leader of a spendthrift party that would hit voters with a “tax bombshell”, crash the economy and flounder in the Brexit negotiations.

Corbyn has hit back that Conservative fiscal austerity imposed since 2010 has hurt the poor and widened social inequalities.

The PM’s constituency was well guarded today as she showed up with husband Philip

The Labour leader waves at supporters as he goes in to mark his cross in the box

Nicola Sturgeon becomes the first party leader to cast their ballot today – in Glasgow

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale poses outside her polling station

Diane Abbott exercises her democratic right in Hackney today

Ukip’s Paul Nuttall laughs as he returns from voting in Congleton today

Green leader Caroline Lucas with husband Richard Savage in Brighton

Plaid leader Leanne Wood votes in Wales in the rain

The rain didn’t stop Tim Farron, Lib Dem leader, from coming out today

Most polling polls are in schools and community centres, but in some places pubs, launderettes and buses are used too.

Some have already cast their vote through the post – this accounted for around 16% of people at the 2015 election.

The first indication of who will win the election is set to come with the results of a BBC/Sky News exit poll as the polls close.

The first voters turning up to cast their ballots

Monks from Nunraw Abbey are out early in East Lothian

Nuns from Tyburn Convent leave a polling station at St John’s Parish Hall, central London

Blatchington Mill in Hove which is being used as one of the polling stations today

Police stand watchfully behind her – outside Beech Lodge in the Maidenhead area

CREDIT: The Sun, Reuters, Press Association, SWNS, Alamy, Rex Features, I-Images and Getty Images.