By DPA
London : Nearly 40 million voters went to the polls in local elections in Britain Thursday which are seen as a final judgement of the decade in power of Prime Minister Tony Blair before he steps down.
Britons in large parts of England, Scotland and Wales cast their vote to elect 312 town and city councils, as well as choose the representatives for regional parliaments in Scotland and Wales.
The two regions, Scotland and Wales, gained greater independence from the government in London through devolution in 1998.
But now, that process could be accelerated in Scotland, where voters could set a trend towards complete independence from London.
The nationalist Scottish National Party (SNP), which intends to call a referendum on “Scottish independence” in years ahead, could overtake Labour, which has been the dominating party in Scotland for 50 years, for the first time.
Latest opinion polls showed the SNP at 34 percent, compared with Labour at 32 percent.
The SNP has been campaigning with Sean Connery, 76, the former James Bond actor and the party’s most valuable asset.
But opinion polls have shown that, despite the heavy emphasis on local issues, the elections across wide parts of the country are seen by many as a chance to express their disapproval of Blair’s Iraq policy.
Turnout on “super Thursday,” as election day has been dubbed, was being helped by cool sunny weather across the country, commentators said.
Labour, which is in the middle of its third term in government, is expected to get a “bruising” in the polls, even though many of the votes will be cast on local issues.
Blair, who has announced that he will specify a date for his promised departure from power next week, has publicly conceded that many Britons have lost trust in him over Iraq.
But he has also blamed “mid-term blues” for the anticipated losses.
Following Blair’s pledge to name the day of his resignation soon, Blair’s critics in the party are expected to avoid their anger spilling over into open revolt after the expected losses.
The Conservatives meanwhile, who are leading Labour in national popularity surveys, Thursday called on voters to back their party under the rejuvenated leadership of David Cameron.
“Let’s be the party of change after 10 years of a government that has lost its way,” Cameron said Thursday.
Apart from the results in Scotland, promising to be the most interesting of the night, observers are watching the performance of the far-right British National Party (BNP), which has put up a record 900 candidates in the hope to add to its tally of 32 councillors in England so far.
Polling stations close at 21:00 (local time) Thursday, and first results are expected early Friday.