POLLING stations throughout the South Hams will open at 7am on Thursday for the much-anticipated referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.

In what is billed as the most important decision in a generation, voters are being asked: ‘Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?’

Everyone registered to vote will be able to do so from 7am until polling stations close at 10pm.

The vote in the South Hams area will be overseen by counting officer Sophie Hosking, the district council’s executive director – service delivery and commercial development.

Registration for voting in person, by post or by proxy has now closed, with polling cards sent out to everyone registered.

The deadline for registering to vote online had to be extended by 48 hours, after huge volumes of people wishing to sign up at the last minute caused IT systems to crash.

The issue of European Union membership has once again caused deep divisions within political parties, with about half of Conservative MPs, including several cabinet members, campaigning for Brexit, alongside a handful of Labour MPs.

South West Devon Conservative MP Gary Streeter is supporting the party leadership in calling to remain, while Totnes constituency MP Sarah Wollaston also recently came out in favour of staying in the European Union, having earlier supported calls to leave.

The public remains fairly evenly split, according to opinion polls.

At the time of posting the story, this newspaper’s online poll was showing 57 per cent in favour of leaving the European Union; 41 per cent in favour of remaining and two per cent undecided.