THE people of Britain will go to the polls today to decide who will run the country in what many are labelling the most significant general election in decades.

In Central Devon, the seven candidates hoping for your votes are Mel Stride (Conservatives), Lisa Robillard Webb (Labour), Alex White (Liberal Democrats), Tim Matthews (UKIP), Andy Williamson (Green Party), Lloyd Knight (Liberal Party) and John Dean (National Health Action Party).

The constituences for Torridge and West Devon, Central Devon and South East Cornwall are all currently held by Tory MPs, with bookmakers predicting that all three will comfortably retain their seats.

The candidates for each area have been campaigning hard, with hustings meetings held in each constituency to allow residents the opportunity to ask questions of their representatives.

There was a hustings event held in Okehampton at Fairplace Church on May 30 with the Central Devon candidates. Organisers invited pre-submitted questions and then came up with questions based on the most common themes.

Alison Duckers, who organised the hustings for Okehampton, said: ‘There was a good turnout. It was a fair debate across a range of questions including WASPI — what will be done to support women as a result of changes to pension age — and what support will be offered to give small farms a fair deal.

‘We steered clear of Brexit, defence and the economy, choosing questions which were more locally motivated such as NHS — people loved the National Health Action Party candidate — affordable housing, transport and more.’

In Tavistock, a hustings event on June 2 attracted almost 200 people to the town hall to ask questions on a range of issues from the Torridge and West Devon candidates, including Brexit, social care and policing.

The event, chaired by former police sergeant Dave Anning, was streamed live on the Tavistock Times Facebook page by Dan Rose, with more than 3,000 people tuning in.

The video is still available to watch on the page.

Seven weeks ago, Prime Minister Theresa May called for a ‘snap’ general election on June 8. She said that the Government was calling the surprise election at ‘this moment of enormous national significance’ due to division in Westminster ahead of Brexit negotiations.

The European Union’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has scheduled the first formal day of talks with Britain about its withdrawal from the EU for June 19, just 11 days after the election. It will be the first day of what promises to be an arduous 15 months of negotiations to secure and solidify the terms of the UK’s exit. Whoever wins the election will have to spearhead those negotiations.

Brexit has grabbed many of the national headlines during the campaign, though the state of the NHS, funding for schools and controversial plans for social care, dubbed the ‘dementia tax’, have also grabbed attention.

When the election was called, the Conservatives were firmly expected to consolidate their majority in the House of Commons in a comfortable landslide victory, though as election day has come nearer, a variety of polls are struggling to come to a consensus on the possible outcome. On Monday, a poll by YouGov suggested that Theresa May will fail to get a majority of seats in the House of Commons.

The terror attacks at Manchester Arena and London have cast a long and sad shadow over the election, with campaigning being postponed in the days after each attack as a sign of respect to those who lost their lives.

The nation’s security has naturally become a big issue of debate following the attacks, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticising a 19,000 fall in police numbers and Theresa May saying she has protected counter-terror police numbers.

In the wake of the attacks, the one thing the parties have united on is the need to press on with the election to preserve democracy and show defiance to the terrorists.

The polls will be open from 7am this morning to 10pm at night, with the votes being counted late into the night.

Tom French from the Times editorial team will attend the count for Central Devon, updating the Okehampton Times Facebook and Twitter pages with the latest throughout the night.