I have attended the verification of the votes cast in Slough (just west of Heathrow Airport and West London). This Borough is part of the South-East region, which is electing ten MEPs. The votes are being counted by local authority area this time.

Verification is the process by which the total number of votes cast is counted and compared with the number of ballot papers issued. In most UK elections this process is done as part of the count which produces the result. However the Euro election count will not take place until Sunday, when the polls have closed in all the member states.

For what it may be worth Slough produced 22,503 votes, which was a 28.07% turnout. This is quite a high turnout for a Euro election in the UK, in an area where no other election is taking place on the same day.

Unfortunately there was no opportunity to get any idea of votes cast for the various lists. The long yellow ballot papers were verified face down. Normally it is possible to get some sample counts. However the design of the ballot paper and the large number of parties (14 instead of the 4 or 5 candidates normally on the ballot paper for a House of Commons election) made it impossible to get any idea of how each list did.