It’s make your mind up time as millions of voters go to the polls today in what is set to be the closest General Election contest for a generation.
The Courier has reporting teams across all the local constituencies and, in print and online, we’ll be bringing you the best coverage of the results and instant reaction throughout the night and into tomorrow.
We have put in place special publishing arrangements that mean tomorrow’s printed editions will bring you the fullest picture possible in your area.
We will also be using this, our new website, to keep you posted throughout the night and hope you’ll join us and share your thoughts as the night progresses and the make-up of our next government starts to become clearer.
An average of the latest opinion polls indicate that Britain is heading for a hung parliament in which no single party has an overall majority.
Across the UK the Conservatives were ahead on 35% with Labour on 29%, the Liberal Democrats on 27% and the other parties on 9%.
Translated into seats, that would give Labour the most MPs in the new House of Commons by a whisker with 272, with the Tories on 270, the Lib Dems on 79 and with 29 others.
But the picture in Scotland is quite different.
Here, the opinion polls put the Tories in fourth place. Labour are well ahead with 37% of the vote, with the Lib Dems second with 22%, just ahead of the SNP on 21% and the Tories on 17%.
In terms of seats this would return 39 Scottish Labour MPs to Westminster — down two on their 2005 election tally.
The Liberal Democrats would get 12, a gain of one, and the SNP would also be one up one the 2005 result with seven.
On this poll showing the Tories north of the border would retain just one Scottish MP.All to play forBut in the last frenzy for votes, the parties set aside predictions and claimed it is all to play for, with millions — perhaps as many in as one in four — of voters still to make up their minds.
The first results are expected around 11pm tonight with the first Scottish results due around 2am on Friday.
With the parties balanced so evenly across the UK a number of cliffhanger seats in Tayside and Fife could well could the shape of the next government.
The result in the two Dundee seats could prove crucial.
In Dundee East the SNP are defending a wafer-thin three-figure majority against a strong Labour challenge while in Dundee West, Labour are fighting to stave off an SNP onslaught.
Dundee is seen nationally as a key battleground.
Just seven years ago Labour controlled both Westminster seats, both Holyrood seats and the council.
If they can hold the east and win in the west the SNP will claim Dundee as Scotland’s first nationalist city.
Across the Tay, in Fife, two seats will be closely watched.Shook politicsIn 2006 the Liberal Democrats shook Scottish politics to its core by winning the by-election in Dunfermline and West Fife.
Labour are determined to regain this former stronghold and both parties have put a major effort into winning over the voters of Dunfermline and the surrounding area.
The outcome in Glenrothes, too, will be pored over by the parties looking for pointers to the future.
In a 2008 by-election Labour comfortably retained the seat against all expectations in a victory which killed the march of the SNP.
Tory fortunes will be put to the test today in two of their top target seats, both in Tayside.
In Angus and Perth and North Perthshire the Tories have hopes of snatching seats from the SNP.
All the parties in Scotland will be watching trends in this election for pointers to the Scottish Parliament elections which take place in May next year.
Once the dust has settled from this election, the parties will regroup to begin the battle for Holyrood.The Courier is making special publishing arrangements to bring you the latest election news in Friday’s editions. We’ll also be reporting on the local results and reaction throughout the night.